Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913

Mb '

Gc

977.5

Us3w

V.6

1219063

GENETALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1833 01076 9252

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2010 with funding from

Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center

http://www.archive.org/details/wisconsinitsstor06ushe

WISCONSIN

ITS STORY AND BIOGRAPHY
1848-1913

BY

ELLIS BAKER USHER

President "Wisconsin Archaeological Society ; Member of the American
Historical Association, The Mississippi Valley Historical
Association, The Wisconsin State Histor-
ical Society and the Amer-
ican Political Science
Association

VOLUME VI

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
I914

Copyright, 1914

BY

The Lewis Publishing Co.

.0

■:( v^ 1219G63

'V~^S-^-.<^-<-y

Judge Lawrence Woodruff Halsey was born at the ancestral home
of the family in Southampton, Long Island, New York, which was
founded by Thomas Halsey in the year 1640, the birth of the subject
occurring on January 8, 1841. He is the son of Captain Abraham and
Eliza Augusta (Woodruff) Halsey. At home .in private schools Law-
rence Woodruff Halsey received his early education. He was still
quite young when he gave evidence of an unusual penchant for
books and study, and before he Avas five years of age, he could read.
In October, 1846, he accompanied an uncle, James T. Pierson, to his
home in Crystal Lake, Illinois. It may be noted that the only means
of travel from New^ York to Chicago at that time Avas by steamboat
to Albany, by canal to Buffalo, and steamboat to Chicago. Reared
among pioneers, he attended the common schools and the Crj'stal
Lake Academy and later prepared for college, attending in 1860 the
Batavia Institute at Batavia, Illinois. Prior to his graduation from
that institution he taught school for a short time. His home life upon
the farm as a boy Avas attended by the usual farm labor, but he Avas
not deterred from his intention to secure an education, and he thus
prepared himself for college, despite many interruptions. He Avas
recognized as a lad as an iinusual student and Avas a general favorite
in school and out, and a leader in all boyish activities. In the singing
schools, so popular in his youth in the village districts, he easily
showed musical talent and derived a genuine pleasure from his Avork
in that department of social life. He was, in fact, a most versatile
young man, and being handy Avith tools, at one time assisted in a
series of local surveys. It Avas in this latter service, it may be said,
that he earned the money that made it possible for him to enter the
Ann Arbor high school in the fall of 1860, Avhere he Avas further pre-
pared for the University. In that year he also attended some of the
lectures of the higher institution, but it Avas not until October, 1861,
that he matriculated in the University of Michigan and began his
studies of letters and science. In 1863 Mr. Halsey entered the law
school, in addition to his law course, taking some literary Avork in the
University. He remained through the summer vacation and devoted
himself assiduously to studJ^ In that year he became clerk and
student in the office of ex-Senator Alpheus Feleh, later in the office of
John N. Gott, and in May, 1864, he entered the office of Judge Olney
Hawkins, where he remained through the summer, until December,
1864. At that time he prepared tAvo theses, one on the subject of
"Taxation" and another on "Banking," both of AA'hich Avere aAvarded
honorable mention and gained him permission to leave the University
until commencement time. He spent that AA'inter in Chicago. Avhere

1883

1384 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

he was engaged as clerk in the office of P. L. Sherman, and continued
until June, when he returned to the University, there to receive his
degree of Bachelor of Laws. At Chicago he founded and organized
the Moot Court of Debate. While at the University he was an im-
portant factor in many of the activities of the college. He was an
officer in the University Battalion and was commander of the High
School Company in 1860-61, most of which enlisted in the volunteer
army, in which two of his brothers served with distinction, one
perishing in the service of his country and the other being severely
wounded. Mr. Halsey's father insisted that he remain at school and
finish his studies and laid such stress upon his demands that the son
acquiesced, although he felt very keenly the inability to join his
brothers in action. Mr. Halsey was chairman of the school literary
society, and in January, 1861, he joined the Adelphi Society and con-
tinued active therein until the close of his college career. He was the
founder and first president of the Jeffersonian Society and was an
acknowledged leader in public debates. He was honored in being
chosen to preside at the general exercises and inauguration held in
the new law building in 1864. In addition to these several societies
and clubs in which he held membership, Mr. Halsey, on February 25,
1863, became a Free and Accepted Mason. He was graduated with
the law class of 1865, and on March 30th of the same year was ad-
mitted to practice in the state of Michigan at the Washtenaw bar.
before Judge Lawrence. Soon after, he returned to Crystal Lake,
Illinois, where he had been reared in the home of his uncle, and in
May set out to find a suitable location in which to establish himself
in practice. He eventually settled at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and there
on June 12, 1865, he formed a partnership with Col. H. B. Jackson,
the firm being known as Jackson & Halsey. They built up a large
practice in the city and conducted many cases of state-wide impor-
tance, their business being a successful and representative one in the
city. After twelve years spent in practice in Oshkosh, Mr. Halsey
i*emoved to Milwaukee, and here in January, 1877, he became a co-
partner in the firm of Johnson, Rietbrock & Halsey, which association
continued until in 1888, when the elevation of Hon. D. H. Johnson
to the bench caused a break in their business relations. For a time
thereafter the firm existed as Rietbrock & Halsey, until Mr. Halsey
M-as appointed to succeed Judge Johnson on the bench. In addition
to its extensive practice their firm acquired large tracts of land in
Marathon, Wood and Price counties, where they conducted an im-
portant colonization project, causing the entire district to be settled
with energetic and ambitious farmers. There they built and operated
lumber and flour mills and a railroad, peopling the wilderness with
sturdy men and women, and they established the village of Athens
in the township of Halsey. It is an undeniable fact that the success

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1385

and prosperity of these ventures were in a large measure due to the
efforts and the business ability of Mr. Halsey, -who gave generously
of his time and attention to the furtherance of the best interests of
the communitj', and in every way contributed to its ultimate success.

Mr. Halsey was appointed counsel for the city of Milwaukee and
as first assistant city attorney filled the office from April, 1898, until
July 28, 1900, at which time he was appointed by Governor Scofield
Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit, comprising the city and county
of Milwaukee, to succeed Judge Johnson, as mentioned previously.
At the spring election in 1901 he received the unanimous endorsement
of the Milwaukee County Bar and was' elected by an overwhelming
majorit)^ to fill the unexpired term, and at the end of that term, once
more the single choice of the bar, he was elected for the full term of
six years, expiring in 1912. In April, 1911, he was re-elected for an-
other term, to expire in January, 1918, at which election he received
a majority of fifteen thousand, after having conducted his own cam-
paign.

While it is a fact that Judge Halsey has never aspired to political
position, he has nevertheless held high offices in the public service,
and he has always been keenly interested in the various civic and
political activities of his city, and has held the position of an esteemed
and valued adviser wherever he has been found. At the University,
while in pursuit of his education, he was always a participant in the
more important college affairs, and as a debater of unusiial ability
and a member of the leading debating societies, he was active in
bringing noted men to the University to lecture on various occasions.
While at Oshkosh, Judge Halsey was a leader in many activities of a
civic nature and did much for the improvement and prosperity of
that city. He was while there elected as a school director at large
and served for a number of years in that capacity, and as a member
of that board brought about the establishment of the graded school
system which now prevails in the city. He has ever since manifested
a keen interest in public school education, and has been an influence
for good in educational matters in Milwaukee, as well as in Oshkosh.

Politically Judge Halsey has been a consistent Democrat, Avhose
advice and guidance has frequently been sought by leaders in that
party, and his opinions have been much valued and of a considerable
influence in the shaping of local politics. In addition to his pro-
fessional work Judge Halsey has contribiited liberally to the editorial
columns of the Oshkosh Democrat and later the Oshkosh Times, his
comments on political and civic matters awakening more than local
discussion. He was an influential figure in the affairs of the Wiscon-
sin National Guard for thirty years, and he with others organized the
Light Horse Squadron, in Avhich he served as an officer for the first
few years. He was largely instrumental in the work of erecting the

1386 HISTORY OF ^YISC0XS1N

fine stone Armory in Milwaukee in 1885, which was long the home of
Troop A, the light battery and several companies of the National
Guard. The Judge later negotiated the purchase of the present site
of thirty acres, and the sale to the city of the Broadway Armory.
He was instrumental in the building of the new Armory and Barracks
of the Light Horse Squadron Armory. He has been president of the
Light Horse Squadron Armory Association since its incorporation and
was also an important factor in the creating of new infantry com-
panies, in one of which is an honorary life member.

Judge Halsey has long been a member of the American Bar As-
sociation of Wisconsin and State Bar Association, and of the Mil-
Avaukee Bar Association, as well as of the Wisconsin Historical
Society and many other societies. A Christian gentleman of a high
type, he has long held membership in the Protestant Episcopal church,
in which he has manifested an abiding interest. He was a vestryman
of Trinity church at Oshkosh and for thirty years Avas a member of
St. Paul's Episcopal church in this city, and has been a vestryman of
St. Mark's. In addition he was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese
of IMilwaukee, which office he has held for many years, and he has been
for a long period president of the board of St. John's Home for Old
People. He has frequently represented his parish in the diocesan
councils and has been active in Christian Avork outside of his OAvn
church.

Judge Halsey from his youth has been the possessor of a fine A'oiee,
and from being a leader in the singing school in his boyhood has
reached prominence as a member of A^arious choral societies, and Avith
his Avife, Avho has an excellent musical training, Avas a member of
choirs and choruses in Oshkosh. After coming to IMihvaukee they
joined the Arion and Cecilian clubs in 1877, and Judge Halsey is still
an honorary member of the Arion Club, as Avell as of the Liedertafel
and Mihvaukee Musical Societies. As chairman of the executiA'e com-
mittee of these societies he Avas a prime mover in bringing about the
building of a great hall for couA^entions and concerts, called the
Auditorium.

Judge Halsey became a Mason Avhile attending the University of
Michigan, as has already been noted, and he has attained a high de-
gree in that old and time honored fraternity. He was long the
Secretary in the Oshkosh lodge and is noAV a member of Wisconsin
Lodge, Xo. 13, A. F. & A. M., and Wisconsin Commandery, No. 1, of
the Ivnights Templar. In 1871 he Avas admitted to the Order of the
Knights of Pythias, in AAdiich he has been a prominent member and
he has been honored AAdth the highest offices in that order, being Past
Grand Chancellor and Past Supreme Representative, and a leading
factor in the Uniform Rank, bringing this body to great efficiency
and numerical strength as Brigadier General of the Wisconsin Bri-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1387

gade. He has for some years past been Judge Advocate General of
the National Body, Military Department of the Knights of Pythias,
and has been in many ways a tower of strength to the order. Since
1880 he has been Trustee of the Wisconsin Grand Lodge.

On December 26, 1866, Judge Halsey was united in marriage to
Miss Mary Louisa Loveridge, the daughter of Edwin Dexter Love-
ridge, M. D., and his wife, Susannah Bodine Pierson. Four children
were born to Judge and Mrs. Halsey, two only having survived,
Louisa K. Halsey, who was married November 6th, 1889, to Philo
C. DarroAv, of Western Springs, Illinois, and Pierson L. Halsey, who
was educated at Cornell University and graduated in June, 1896, in
the law department of Wisconsin University and became a member
of the firm of Rietbrock & Halsey for some years. He is now residing
on a stock farm at Athens, Wisconsin.

Mrs. Halsey lost her life in a wreck on the Chesapeake & Ohio
Railway, near Maysville, Kentucky, on May 22, 1907, in which acci-
dent the Judge also was severely injured. Mrs. Halsey was a woman
of the finest traits of mind and heart, widely known and well beloved.
She was a woman of superior education and culture and always
played a proniinent part in the civic, patriotic and educational clubs
and societies in Mihvaukee, as well as being a leader in church and
benevolent work. In addition to a marked literary ability, which
made her popular in the best club circles of the city, she was a talented
musician, and Avith her husband was a member of many of the best
Choral Clubs of Oshkosh and Milwaukee during her lifetime. Her
home life was characterized by the most ideal conditions, and she
was known for a devoted wife and mother, tender, gracious and
kindly in all the relations of life, and in every way a noble and ex-
emplary woman. Her death came as a great shock to the city and
was deeply deplored in the circles in which she had been wont to
move.

Judge Halsey, it should be stated, is one of the founders of the
Wisconsin Savings Loan and Building Association, of which he is first
vice-president. He is also a member of the University of Michigan
Alumni Association of Wisconsin, and is chairman of the Scholarship
Endowment Committee.

The Jiidge is still active and interested in every phase of civic life
and in affair^ of state and national import. It is not too much to say
at this point that few, if indeed any, men in the city of Milwaukee
have been more actively allied with and more deeply interested in the
civic, patriotic and political organizations of the city and in its social,
philanthropic and religious afi^airs than has Judge Halsey. Through-
out his long and busy career he has been widely esteemed and highly
respected for his many excellent qualities, his splendid achievements,
his scholarly attainments, his practical wisdom, and his brilliant

1888 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

record as the presiding judge of the circuit court as a fitting climax
to his more than exemplary public career.

William F. Peterman. As president of the Peterman Brothers
Company, general merchants at Merrill, in Lincoln county, as second
vice president of the German- Amei'ican State Bank of Merrill, and as
president of the Merrill Knitting Company, a new industry established
in 1912 with a capital stock of $15,000.00, but which has since been
increased to $30,000.00, William F. Peterman is now one of the fore-
most business men and citizens of Lincoln county. He has lived in
this county for thirty years, grew up to manhood here, started out
without capital, and is strictly a self-made man, having through his
integrity and demonstrated industry placed himself in positions of
recognized leadership in the business and civic affairs of his locality.

William F. Peterman is a native of Germany, born April 12, 1872,
a son of August and Johanna Peterman. In 1883, when he was eleven
■year old, the family immigrated to America, and from New York City
came direct to Merrill, Wisconsin. His father was an industrious
working man, and bore a respected name during his residence in
Merrill, where both he and his wife died. William F. Peterman had
attended school in Germany, and after coming to Wisconsin was a
student for two terms in the Merrill public schools, and thus familiar-
ized himself with the English language, and completed his equipment
for a business career. His school days were over when he was a little
past thirteen years old, and at that time he secured his first regular
employment as a boy worker in a saw mill. Later for a year and a
half he had experience in a sash and door factor}^, and then began
delivering groceries for the firm of E. A. Wiley & Company. The
three years of his employment with the grocery firm gave him a prac-
tical knowledge of that business and with that experience he joined
F. A. Hanover & Son in buying out Mr. Wiley's establishment. He
continued a member of the new firm about one year, and then in 1893
established Avhat is now the large general store of Peterman Brothers.
The stock of this partnership was first displayed in what is now
Fowler's drug store on east Main Street. In 1900 their store was
burned but the partners quickly resumed business, and then moved
to a portion of their present store corner at Main and Popular Streets.
In 1909 they acquired the adjoining building to the west and now
have an elegant store in their own building. The Peterman building
has a frontage of eighty-two feet, Avith a depth of one hundred and
twenty feet facing on Main Street, and also with entrance on Popu-
lar Street. The German-American Bank, of which Mr. Peterman is
vice president occupies the corner room of the Peterman Building,
but all the rest of the ground floor is occupied by the business of
Peterman Brothers. This building is a two-story brick structure, and

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1389

the upper floors are occupied by offices. Immediately back of the
store building is a Avarehouse forty by twenty feet, used to supplement
the requirements for space in the main store. The Peterman Brothers
conduct one of the two largest mercantile establishments in Lincoln
county. Established in 1893, it was conducted as a flourishing part-
nership between the three Peterman Brothers, until 1912, and in that
year was incorporated under its present name of Peterman Brothers
Company, with ]Mr. William F. Peterman president, ]Mr. A. E. Peter-
man vice president, and R. J. Peterman as secretary and treasurer.
The capital stock of the company is $25,000.00.

William F. Peterman, as a biisiuess man who has been known to
the people of Lincoln county since he was a boy has long been promi-
nent in local affairs outside of his private business. In 1910 he
became a member of the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors, and for
two years, 1911-12, served as chairman of the board. He has served
three different terms as alderman from the Seventh Ward, the first time
in 1898.

In 1894 Mr. Peterman was mairied to Minnie Hackbart of Merrill.
They are the parents of four children; Harry, Elsie, William and
Xeton. The church connection of ]\Ir. Peterman and family is with the
Evangelical denomination, and he is affiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, and the ]\Iodern Woodmen of America, and the
Knights of the ^Maccabees.

Aug. J. Braun. In November, 1912, the people of Lincoln county
placed the management of county finances under the care of a popular
young citizen, who was reared in Merrill and has been known to the
people of this vicinity all his life. Aug. J. Braun is more than a popular
citizen. His integrity and proficiency have been demonstrated in many
ways, and he has given a good account of himself in every relation of
trust and business.

Aug. J. Braun took up his duties as county treasurer on January
6, 1913, succeeding the late W. E. Whitney in that office. Mr. Braun
was born in Germany, January 3, 1882, a son of August and Dorothy
Braun. When he was an infant, the parents came to America, his father
having preceded the rest of the family, and found a home for them in
Merrill. From here he sent back to Germany for the mother and chil-
dren, and they followed on and joined him in Merrill. The children
who came with the mother were Aug. J. and a younger brother William
L. Braun. Thus Mr. Braun from his earliest recollection was reared in
Merrill, and attended the public schools np to the eighth grade, after
which he was a student in the German schools for some time. His father
is still actively identified with the city, being a local druggist. The
mother is deceased.

After leaving school Mr. Braun worked in the A. H. Stange Sash &

1390 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Door Factory for a year and a half. Since that time he has been con-
nected with various stores in Merrill as clerk and delivery man. By
practical experience he is thoroughly familiar with the lumber industry
of Northern AVisconsin, and is also an efficient business man.

In September, 1910, Mr. Braun married Miss Eleanor Hulda Wais
of Merrill.

George Curtis Mansfield. Industries which supply the vital neces-
sities of human life among many thousands of people and over wide
areas are seldom of quick growth. They have roots usually in the steady
industry and enterprise of a single individual, whose lifetime is often in-
sufficient for their full development and a succession of corporate form
carries on and expands the institution through its most flourishing
stages. This has been true of a Wisconsin industry, one especially typical
of the state, and one of the largest in the country, supplying the products
of local dairies to thousands of consumers — the George C. Mansfield
Company of Milwaukee. The business originated more than forty years
ago, was developed on a profitable scale, but it remained for the sons
of the founder to bring it to its present proportions. The following
articles represent an attempt to describe the main features in the careers
of the individuals engaged, and the substantial facts concerning the
industry itself.

The late George Curtis Mansfield was a descendant of one of the old
American families. The environment of the New England fathers was
calculated to bring out and develop all that was sturdy and vigorous
in both mind and body, and their descendants continue to manifest
the traits of character which enabled them to survive the hardships
they were compelled to endure, and which rendered jDrosperity possible
in the face of the most discouraging conditions. George C. Mansfield
was one of the early residents of the state of Wisconsin, and in his old
home town of Johnson Creek he will long be remeinbered as a foremost
citizen in every enterprise and movement affecting the growth and
prosperity of this little village.

Mr. Mansfield was born May 26, 1837, at Lowell, ]\Iiddlesex county,
Mass., a son of George Mansfield. He received an ordinary public school
education, and as a youth began his business career with the firm of
Burr Brothers & Company of Boston. In March, 1856, he came to Wis-
consin, and located in Johnson Creek. In the following year he went to
Janesville, where he worked with his father, who had established a
barrel factory at that point. In March 1860, again taking up his resi-
dence at Johnson Creek, he was from that time forward actively identi-
fied with the development of the locality. His first venture was a
grocery store, later he became owner of a barrel stave factory, a business
which grew to large proportions. Later he embarked in the dairy busi-
ness, then in its infancy in Wisconsin, and from that time xintil his death

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1391

was a decided factor iu its growth. He was a well kuowu figure on South
Water street, Chicago, where he was accounted in his time the heaviest
shipper of dairy goods to the East. He has been sadly missed from the
village of Johnson Creek, where he had been ever ready to help and im-
prove the community in every way. That this is one of the flourishing
Wisconsin towns today may be accredited to Mr. Mansfield's activity.
Every local improvement bears the impress of his personality. He was
ever ready to assist along educational lines, and the present school system
owes, if not its origin, its present efficiency to him. For years he served
as postmaster, railroad agent, and express agent, established Mansfield's
Bank, the only financial institution in the town, and was known as John-
son Creek's most useful citizen. He never took any active part in puWic
affairs in the direction of politics, nor did he covet personal prefer-
ment, but was at all times willing to give both his means and time to
the principles and nominees of the Republican party. His success in
business extended beyond the borders of the state, and he had interests
in the oil fields of Beaumont, Texas. His work in founding and devel-
oping the great George C. Mansfield Company alone entitles him to a
leading place among organizing geniuses of his day. In the offices of
the Company in Milwaukee hangs a large portrait of George C. Mans-
field, and alongside are the pictures of his sons who now conduct the
business. i\Ir. Mansfield did not live to reap a full measure of success
from his labors, djdng October 13, 1901, sincerely mourned by all who
had known him. The funeral was in charge of the Waterton ^Masonic
Lodge, of which he had been a valued member for inany years.

On October 15, 1859, Mr. ^Mansfield married Miss Caroline Mosher, of
Janesville, Wisconsin, and to this union were born three children : George
D., president and treasurer of the George C. Mansfield ComjDany of
]\Iilwaukee ; Fred C, a representative business man of Johnson Creek,
and vice president of the George C. Mansfield Company ; and Grace R.,
wife of Charles D. Pearce, in the insurance department of the real estate,
loan and insurance business of Chris Schroeder & Son Company of Mil-
waukee. ]\Irs. Mansfield died October 23, 1872. She was born October
31, 1857, in Yei*mont, and like her husband was bj^ nature and training
a ' ' dyed-in-the-wool ' ' Yankee. On October 15, 1873, Mr. IMansfield mar-
ried for his second wife Miss Kittie "Winniek of Lake Mills, Wisconsin.
Their four children were : Frank, of Lake jMills ; Philip, of Watertown ;
Flora, now Mrs. Boardman of Lowell, Massachusetts: and Mildred, of
Johnson Creek. All were born at Johnson Creek, and educated in the
public schools there. Flora spent one year at the University of Wiscon-
sin, and Grace R. finished her schooling at Rockford Seminary for Girls
at Rockford, Illinois. Frank IMansfield enlisted for service in a Wis-
consin regiment of Yolunteers during the Spanish-American War, but
after reaching Jacksonville, Florida, was taken ill with typhoid fever.
His life was saved through the braverv of his mother who made the

1392 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

journey to the southern city to nurse him back to health, but at the
saeritice of her own life, since on her return to Johnson Creek, she was
stricken with the same disease and died November 18, 1898.

George D. ^Mansfield. The career of George D. jNIansfield, oldest
sou of the late George C. Mansfield, and now president of the great
George C. Mansfield Company of Milwaukee, has from earliest boyhood
been one of self-reliant industry and constant advancement. In him
was apparently implanted the spirit of adventure, and he Avas quite
ready to face the world when at an age which finds most boys still cher-
ishing the protection of their parents . As a boy he traveled to nearly
every part of the country, was in different lines of work, met and over-
came obstacles which steadied and gave him power for the substantial
accomplishments of his later years.

George D. Mansfield was born at Johnson Creek, AVLsconsin, July 11,
1863, a son of George Curtis and Caroline Amanda (Mosher) Mans-
field. He had practically no education when a boy, leaving school
at the age of thirteen. Such advantages as he had were only those fur-
nished by a country school^ attended by from eighty to ninety boys
and girls, presided over by one poorly equipped instructor, and he ad-
mits that he probably learned more mischief than writing and reading
and arithmetic in that institution of learning. At the age of thirteen he
ran away obsessed with the desire to see the world. During the next
few months, he saw a great deal of it, and was by no means on the rosy
side of fortune, finding out what it was to be hungry, and also to be ex-
tremely homesick. He possessed a large measure of that boyish pride
which prevented him from returning like the prodigal and asking for-
giveness, and resolutely determined to get along without assistance. In
the course of his wanderings he arrived at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, during
the time of grape harvest and found employment in a vineyard. The
couple for whom he worked and in whose home he lived, took no little in-
terest in the lad, and the wife, a kindly, motherly woman, seeing that
he had been reared among refined surroundings, frequently questioned
him as to his home and people. For a long time the boy refused to give
any information regarding himself, but finally, during a spell of home-
sickness, divulged the name of his home town. The old lady, who had
given him many talks in an effort to make him see that his family needed
him and were worrying as to his whereabouts, wrote to his parents, and
it was not long before an answer came, accompanied by a check to pay
his transportation home. Finding the boy in the vineyards, the old lady
informed him as to Avhat she had done, telling him also that she would
like to have him remain with her for another week to assist her in selling
the grapes. But now the lad's homesickness overcame him completely,
and on the very same day he left for home. On reaching the Wells
Street station in Chicago, he took a seat in the depot while awaiting the

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1393

train that was to bear him to Wisconsin, to Johnson Creek. He had
hardly sat down when he noticed a gentleman next to him reading a
paper. He could just see the side of his neighbor's face, but a peculiar
twitching in the cheek told him that it was his father, who, it developed,
had been awaiting his coming, but who had not expected him so soon.
This twitching is a characteristic of Mr. ^Mansfield at this time while
reading. Once restored to his home, George D. Mansfield was content to
remain until sixteen years of age, and then again was seized with the
wanderlust, and this time went to Fargo, North Dakota. It was mid-
winter, and he secured a position as a brakemaii en tlie Northern Pa-
cific Railroad, running between Fargo and Bismarck. Subsequently he
was engaged in railroading in various capacity, as brakeman, switchman,
yardmaster, and conductor, and in this way saw a greater poi'tion of the
United States, chiefly through the western states. He entered the service
of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad, now the Great
Northern and was a fireman. During the nine years of his railroading he
was in San Francisco and Monterey, did switching for the Southern
Pacific in train yards at San Francisco, was in Montana at the time of
the driving of the famous golden spike connecting the links of the North-
ern Pacific, was employed as a conductor of freight trains on that line,
worked in the switch yards in St. Louis during the Knights of Labor
general railroad strike, and his career as a railroader came to an end
in the Forty-eighth Street yards of the Wisconsin Central Railway in
Chicago in 1891.

In 1890 Mr. Mansfield became connected with a produce commission
firm on South Water street as a buyer and salesman. After three years,
in 1893, he moved to Edgerton, Wisconsin. At Edgerton he took over the
management of ten creameries belonging to the Edgerton Creamery Com-
pany, in which concern his father was interested. During his seven years
of residence at Edgerton, he so firmly established himself in the con-
fidence of the people that he was twice elected mayor, each time being
elected while absent from the city. Mr. Mansfield then returned to
Johnson Creek to become general manager of the George C. Mansfield
Creameries and wholesale butter business. In this way he continued
until his father's death^ when he became president and treasurer of the
George C. Mansfield Company, in which offices he continues at the pres-
ent time.

In the fall of 1907 the George C. Mansfield Company started the erec-
tion of a plant at Milwaukee, costing two hundred thousand dollars, and
regarded as one of the finest of its kind in the country. This plant was
completed April 17, 1908. The concentration of the business at Mil-
waukee and its expansion on such generous proportions was a logical de-
velopment of the enterprise under the management of the Mansfield
Brothers, who had laid out many new lines for improving the industry
and succeeded in realizing their ideals in so happy a manner that the
removal of the headquarters to Milwaukee became a necessary part of

1394 IIJ STORY OF AVISC0N8IN

their plan. About the time the Milwaukee Plant was completed, one of
the Milwaukee papers published, under date of March 12, 1908, a
sketch of the business and a description of the plant, and with a few
changes to bring the article down to date, it is herewith reproduced.

"The experience and business concentration of forty years may be
said to be represented in the present magnitude of the butter and ice-
cream manufacturing and storage business of the George C. Mansfield
Company of this city. It was forty years ago that the late George C.
Mansfield founded at Johnson Creek, Wisconsin, the business today man-
aged by the two sons, George D. and Fred C. Mansfield. During the past
year the company conducted a trade which aggregated one million two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in sales. Twelve years ago the sons
of the founder opened a Milwaukee branch, where they could get better
railroad facilities for handling their large and increasing business and
where butter from every part of the state could be brought in on the var-
ious railroads for reshipment and for city trade, and they subsequently
added the wholesale manufacture of ice-cream to that of butter making.
Moving from one large building to still another larger one as a result
of their rapidly increasing trade, this company, whose famous brand of
creamery butter is known in all parts of the eountrj'. is now the largest
and most perfect plant in all appointments of any in the country. This
is located at Fourth and Poplar Streets. The four-story main building
is constructed of reinforced concrete, know^n as the "Mushroom" Sys-
tem of that construction idea. The main manufacturing building is sixty
by one hundred and fifty feet in size with a brick and concrete cold
storage addition at the rear, eighty by forty feet, and of the same height
as the other, making the entire building one hundred feet wide in the
rear. This building was erected after a personal inspection of all build-
ings for similar purposes to be found in the United States.

A tour of inspection of the new plant shows it to be a marvel as to
the magnitude of output here made possible. Within its walls the IMans-
field Company is enabled to take care of between five and six tons of
its famous butter every working day in the year, while at the same time
and in the departments devoted to that work the company here had
modern machinery which has a capacity for freezing and properly keep-
ing five thousand gallons of ice-cream a day. In the basement is modern
refrigerating and ice-making machinery, which manufactures and
handles twenty tons of ice a day, and refrigerates the entire plant.

In the Mansfield plant every precaution and safeguard is taken for
sanitation and the observance of the rules of hygiene. The offices have
been equipped with no less care than the plant, and every convenience
has been installed for the comfort and convenience of the army of em-
ployees. The presence of such an enterprise adds materially to the pres-
tige of Milwaukee as a manufacturing center, and its officers are men
widely known in the business world. George D. Mansfield is now presi-

(Jy o&cr^l^

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1395

dent, ti-easurer and general manager; Fred C. Mansfield of Johnson
Creek is vice president, and Arthur Graszel of Jefferson, Wisconsin, is
secretary, the business being practically a family enterprise. The capital
and surplus now amounts to $300,000. In addition to the well known
Jersey brand of butter, and the famous Mansfield pasteurized ice-cream,
the company handles the finest selected eggs, where the public cold stor-
age is doing a constantly increasing business, two hundred carloads of
this produce being handled yearly, as well as the product of thirty-five
creameries. The company holds membership in the Business j\Ien's
League and the Merchants & Manufacturers Association of Milwaukee.

Mr. George D. jMansfield is a Republican in national politics, but has
never aspired to office, his only public service being when he acted in the
capacity of mayor of Edgerton. He is an active member of the Civic
Committee and of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association,
belongs to ihe Travelers ' Protective League, has a life membership in the
Illinois Athletic Association of Chicago, and is also a member of the
Milwaukee Athletic Club. He is not a member of any religious denom-
ination, but has been liberal in his support of the movements of the
Lutheran church, to which his wife and children belong.

On April 25, 1889, Mr. Mansfield was married at Johnson Creek, Wis-
consin to Miss Hulda Amelia Geesa, who was born on a farm in Farming-
ton township, three miles from Johnson Creek, a daughter of Louis and
Amelia (Schutz) Geesa, natives of German}^ who were early settlers of
Johnson Creek. For some time Mr. Geesa conducted the old Union House,
but subsequently moved to Wittenberg, Wisconsin, where he conducted a
sawmill until his death. His widow passed away at Jefi^erson, Wiscon-
sin, at the home of a younger daughter. Mr. and Mrs. ^Mansfield have
two beautiful daughters: Ethel Catherine, born in Chicago, Illinois, a
graduate of the Fort Atkinson high school, for one year attended Mil-
waukee-Downer College, and graduated from the University of Wiscon-
sin in June, 1913; and Esther Amelia, born at Edgerton, Wisconsin, a
graduate of the East Division high school of Milwaukee, spent one year
at Milwaukee-Downer College and one year at the ^Milwaukee State
Normal, and is now a member of the class of 1916 in the Univez'sity of
Wisconsin. Both girls belong to the Alphi Phi Sorority, and Miss Ethel
was the stewardess of that organization.

A. Clarke Dodge. To the members of no one family have the thriv-
ing little city of Monroe, and the county of Green, owed more for
their substantial development, their civic and social welfare, than to
the Dodge family, one of whose prominent members was the late
Joseph T. Dodge, and still living and active in the citizenship of the
locality is A. Clarke Dodge, who for virtually half a century has
been one of the most resourceful and public-spirited citizens of the

139G HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

county. His influeuce has touched many movements and measures
that have conserved the civic and material prosperity, and he is still
the executive head of the Dodge Lumber Company, of which he was
the founder. Through service in various positions of public trust he
has likewise been one of the upbuilders of Monroe, and it is as a
l^ioneer, a business leader of splendid ability as an organizer, and as
an honored and useful citizen that this name is introduced to the
readers of this publication.

A. Clarke Dodge comes from the staunehest New England colonial
stock. The first of the name to locate in America came from England
in 1629. During the successive generations many of the famil}^ rela-
tionship have contributed no unimportant services in the development
of New England, and there were soldiers of the name in the Continental
line during the War of the Revolution. Mr. A. C. Dodge was reared
to the sturdy discipline of a New England farm, early learned the
dignity and value of honest labor, and throughout his long and active
career has exemplified the best traditions of the old Green Mountain
State, which he is proud to state as the place of his nativitj'.

At Barre, Washington county, Vermont, A. C. Dodge was born
November 6, 1834. In his seventy-ninth year he is one of the venerable
citizens of Monroe, and has a retrospect of many long and useful years.
He is a son of Joseph and Lorenda (Thompson) Dodge, who spent all
their lives in Vermont, where the father was a substantial farmer, a
man of prominence and influence in his community. Up to the age of
twenty A. C. Dodge lived on the home farm, and contributed his labor
to its cultivation, in the meantime availing himself of the advantages
of the common schools. He also took a course in the Barre Academy,
of which Jacob S. Spaulding, LL. D., was then president. He was
eight years old when his father sold the old homestead, which had been
the family residence for more than twenty year«, and bought a place
of two hundred acres nearer the southeast corner of the same town, in
Washington county. With the increase of the farm area, additional
demands were placed upon ail members of the family, and as A. Clarke
was the oldest of those still remaining under the parental roof, he
had plenty of occupation both for mind and hands. There was also
no lack of vitalizing influence to ([uicken his ambition, and before he
reached his majority he had definitely determined to seek his fortune
in the Avest. In the fall of 1854, the farm just mentioned having been
sold, Mr. Dodge left Vermont and went west. After a short time in
Chicago, he came on to Wisconsin, and joined the engineering corps
at the head of which was his brother, engaged in work on what is now
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. He also found employ-
ment in bridge building and at farm work, and spent several years
as a teacher, being for three years in the village of Monroe. Later he
looked after his brother's planing mill at ]\[onroe, and in 1865, when

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1397

a young man of about thirty, engaged in the lumber business at Mon-
roe. That was then a pioneer village in a little developed section of
the state.

During the many years which have elapsed since ^Ir. Dodge first
came to know Monroe, he has been continuously connected with the
retail lumber trade in Monroe, and his operations in that line have
been of constantly broadening scope and importance. In 1881 he
bought of his brother Joseph an interest in the Monroe Planing Mill,
and thus amplified his field of operations. He still continues one of
the interested members of the Monroe Planing Mill Company, though
the active management of this plant is now in the hands of his older
son, Charles S. The enterprise was first established in 1858, and its
history has been one of continuous and well-earned success. The
business gives employment to a force of about fifteen expert work-
men. Concerning the company and its operations, the following sen-
tences from a previous publication are quoted :

' ' The plant occupies several lots in the heart of the city, and here
are located the office, the perfectly equipped saw and planing mill,
operated by steam power, and ample storage sheds for lumber and
other products handled. The main building is fifty by fifty feet in
dimension, is a substantial brick structure, and is two stories in height,
besides having a basement that is fullj' utilized. The company manu-
facture cheese boxes, staves, windows, doors, screens, mouldings, all
kinds of interior finish, etc., and draw a trade from a large area of
the count}' — in fact, the company are prepared fully for effective con-
tract work in this and neighboring states. A. C. Dodge has been an
honored and influential citizen of Monroe for the past fifty years,
during which time he has played a leading part in enabling Monroe
to meet all promises of commercial supremacy."

In the year 1865 Mr. Dodge founded the substantial business now
conducted under the corporate title of the Dodge Lumber Company,
and has been president of the company since its incorporation in 1894.
His younger son, Lewis, was seeretarj^ and treasurer until his acci-
dental death in 1911. The Dodge Lumber Company are among the
heaviest operators in lumber in this part of the state, and their facili-
ties for conducting the business represent exceptional advantages.
The lines handled include lumber, coal, salt, cement, flour, feed, etc.,
and the large stock proves adequate to meet all demands. The plant
includes some nine warehouses and coal sheds, besides a block of land
for lumber storage. Both of these concerns have enjoyed their great
success largely because of their reputation for fair and honorable
dealing, the best of commercial assets.

Practically every phase of community activity and civic advance-
nieut has felt the influence of Mr. Dodge. While a busy man all his
career, his many interests absorbing his time and energy, he has never

1398 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

lacked that public spirit which is so essential to the continued welfare
of any democratic community. lu addition to liis local activities in
Monroe, he has owned and operated a fine farm since 1884, a i:)lace of
three hundred and seventy acres in Monroe township. His farm is
especially well known for its high grade live stock, and in many
respects is a model place, both a source of pride and of profit to its
owner.

Mr. Dodge was a member for twenty-six years of the Monroe Board
of Education. For twenty-one years of this time he Avas president of
the board. No one has been more interested, nor has translated his
interest in the more practical efforts to promote the cause of local
education than Mr. Dodge. Eight times he was elected a member of
the Board of Supervisors of Green county, and five times served as
chairman of the board. In 1877 he was chairman of the building
committee which bought the present county poor farm and erected its
excellent buildings. In 1886 he was chairman of the Committee of the
Board of Supervisors that erected the present insane asylum of the
county, an institiition of a superior type, and a matter of special satis-
faction to all those concerned about the public institutions of the
county. In 1890 Mr. Dodge was chairman of the committee which
secured plans for the present fine courthouse, and was secretary of the
building committee, supervising the erection of that structure. While
president of the Board of Education, Mr. Dodge took the lead and
really became instrumental in establishing the Monroe Public Library
in 1872. Since that time his personal interests and means have prob-
ably been the largest single influence in the development of that
institution of local culture and education, and it is now one of the
best libraries to be found in any Wisconsin town of its size, receiving
annual appropriations from the board of education, and possessing a
large collection of books.

Mr. Dodge became of age in 1855. That was one of the crucial
years in the political history of America, and in 1856 the Republican
party first entered the national field with candidates for the offices of
the national government. Mr. Dodge voted for John C. Fremont in
that year, and has voted for every Republican presidential candidate
down to William Howard Taft in 1912. He has been more than a
voter, has also been prominent in the political councils of his party in
Wisconsin. He served two terms in the lower house of the Wisconsin
legislature, elected in 1898 and again in 1900. In 1880 he was an
alternate delegate from Wisconsin to the national convention in
Chicago that nominated GeneraT Garfield, was a delegate to the con-
vention of 1884 in which he supported James G. Blaine as standard
bearer of the party, and in 1888 was a presidential elector from Wis-
consin, casting a ballot Avhich contributed to the placing of General
Harrison in the white house.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1399

On November 4, 1860, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dodge
to Miss Sarah E. Kidder, who was born at Liberty, Ohio, a daughter
of the late Joseph B. Kidder. Mr. and Mrs. Dodge have had three
children, mentioned as follows: Charles Sumner, born July 31, 1861,
in Rock county, Wisconsin; Flora E., born February 25, 1874, in
Monroe, and now living at home with her father; and Lewis, born
August 13, 1877, who died in 1911, having been killed in an accident
and having been for several years previously secretary and treasurer
of the Dodge Lumber Company. Mrs. Dodge died of pneumonia,
April 15, 1911.

Joseph T. Dodge. Few men M^ere more prominently identified Avith
railway building in the west than was the late Joseph Thompson
Dodge, who was a pioneer in this all-important domain of enterprise
and an influential factor in the construction of several early railway
lines in the middle west. He was specially prominent in the develop-
ment of railroads in Wisconsin, and achieved a high reputation as a
civil engineer. He had charge of the location and construction of the
line that resulted in great benefit to the now thriving little city of
Monroe, in Green county, and altogether was one of the strong and
resourceful men who contributed much to the early progress of Wis-
consin.

Joseph Thompson Dodge, who died at Madison, on Fel^ruary 6,
1904, was born in the southeastern part of Barre township, Washing-
ton county, Vermont, May 16, 1823. His parents, Joseph and Adubah
(Thompson) Dodge, spent their entire lives in the Green Mountain
state, and represented good old colonial stock. The late Mr. Dodge
in the latter years of his life gave much time and labor to the com-
pilation and publication of a Avork to Avhich he gave the title ' ' Geneal-
ogy of the Dodge Family."

Reared as a New England farmer boy, Mr. Dodge early acquired
a definite ambition to exercise his powers of mind and body to the
furthest possibilities, and his early inclinations were for constructive
enterprises. In a district school near his home he gained a rudi-
mentary education, later studied under a private instructor, a well-
educated woman whose services Avere given for a dollar and twenty-
five cents a week, board included, that fact being mentioned as shoAV-
ing the' meager wages paid for first-class instruction in that period.
By close application and much private study, Mr. Dodge gained a
really liberal education. He qualified as a teacher, and earned the
money for his expenses Avhile a student of historic old Dartmouth
College, AAdiere he spent one year and Avas graduated three years later
from the University of Vermont with an excellent technical knoAvl-
edge of civil engineering. Two weeks after graduation he found
work as a civil engineer, under the president of the Vermont Central

1400 HISTOEY OF WISCONSIN

Railroad. Gov. Paiue, of Xorthfield, Vermont, his employer, was
considered a tyrant in his demands upon those employed in that de-
partment, yet he was not lacking in appreciation of the character and
efforts of those who did faithful and effective work. Mr. Dodge at
first got only a dollar and a quarter a day, and had to pay his OAvn
expenses. After two months he was made assistant engineer, at a
salary of forty-five dollars a month. In 1847 he was transferred to
the Eoxbury and Northfield division of the railroad system, and con-
tinued in that service until completing the work in 1849. Later he
made a preliminary survey for the people between Montpelier and
Bradford, Vermont.

In September, 1849, Mr. Dodge came west. At that time there
was not a complete line of railway existing between the east central
states and Chicago, and he made part of his journey by stage, a part
on steamboat over Lake Champlain, went by canal boat and railway
to the state of New^ York, took a steamboat across Lake Erie to Mich-
igan, and journeyed from Detroit or perhaps from Monroe, Michigan,
over what is now the Michigan Central, as far as the eastern shore of
Lake Michigan, and thence arrived in Chicago bj' way of boat. Con-
tinuing his journey to St. Louis, where he arrived December 24, 1849,
he found a position as assistant to the county engineer of St. Louis
county, S. B. IMoulton. Later he became a member of an engineering
corps in the service of the Illinois Central Railway Company, and
thus continued from September, 1850, until October of the following
year. Another point that may be mentioned from his early experi-
ence as illustrating the progress of the country and railway construc-
tion since those early years. "While with the Illinois Ceuti*al Railway
Company he had the supervision of the task of laying the first T-rails
ever put to use in the state of Illinois, all other lines in that state
still using the primitive strap-rails. Mr. Dodge next became an
assistant in the construction of plank roads in St. Louis county,
Missouri, and then found service in construction contracts along the
line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

On April 5, 1853, Mr. Dodge took the place of assistant to E. H.
Brodhead of Milwaukee, one of the leading civil engineers of his time.
Later Mr. Dodge became engineer of the Milwaukee & Mississippi
Railroad Company, the line of which had been constructed as far as
Milton in Rock county. Under his active personal supervision the
line was extended from Stoughton to Madison. In the summer of
1854 he assisted in locating the line from Madison to Prairie du Chien,
"Wis., a distance of 100 miles. In 1855 Mr. Dodge located the line
from Janesville to Monroe, "Wisconsin, and in 1856 and 1857 had
charge of building the road. From August, 1863, until December of
the following year, Mr. Dodge was principal assistant engineer of
the same railroad company, located at Mendota, ^Minnesota, the line

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1401

then being under construction from Minneapolis to Faribault. In
March, 1871, he was appointed chief engineer of the system, and early
in the following year was made chief engineer of the Hastings and
Dakota railroad. All of this service was in the employ of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, with the develop-
ment of which great system he thus had an important part.

He bought the Planing Mill property in Monroe in the Spring of
1877 and left the property in charge of his brother, A. C. Dodge, and
soon thereafter went south to survey the battle-fields of Gen. Sherman
from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and preparing maps for the "War De-
partment. For assistance he had a Captain and a squad of soldiers
detailed from the regular army, he being the only civilian, and spent
a year in making the survey. He possessed the finest qualities of
integrity and honor, so that he enjoyed the esteem of his fellow men
in every relation of life.

Mr. Dodge was appointed chief engineer of construction of the St.
Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway in the spring of 1879. The
work of this year was the location and construction of a railroad
from Alexandria to Barnesville, Minn., a distance of 76 miles. An
expensive bridge was constructed across the Red River of the North
at Grand Forks, Dakota.

In 1880 Mr. Dodge was appointed by Frederick Billings, the pres-
ident of the N. P. R. R., to take charge of the location of the Yellow-
stone division, from Glendive to now Livingston, Montana, a distance
of 340 miles. The Yellowstone Valley was reached by stage line from
Bismarck to Miles City, nearly 300 miles. This time was only four
years previous to the Custer massacre on a tributary of the Yel-
lowstone. Mr. Dodge made his first examination in February, going
by stage, wagon and horseback. In February, Mr. Dodge made his
first examination of the route on which he was expected to place
engineering parties in the Spring. A report of the character of the
work and an estimate of its probable cost had to be made. In March
men, outfits and supplies were gotten together and in April Mr. Dodge
started across the unsettled country, with nine wagons loaded with
camp equipment and supplies from Bismarck to the Yellowstone
River, and by the end of the year this 340 miles of the road was
located and ready for grading.

The following year, 1881, Mr. Dodge was put in charge of the
location of the Rocky Mountain division, over the main range of
the Rockies and some fifty miles down the western slope, and covering
about two hundred miles, and the most difficult to locate and construct
of any part of the N. P. R. R. There were two mountain ranges to
cross and three tunnels to go through, Boseman, 3,610 feet long,
through the Belt range, and Mullan, 3,885 feet, through the Main

1402 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

range, and '"Ii-on Ridge," 640 feet, and many trestles (one 98 feet
high) were built.

lu 1885 Mr. Dodge was made chief engineer of the Montana
Central R. R. The location and construction of this road between
Great Falls and Butte, 171 miles, was in some respects Mr. Dodge's
greatest engineering work. That Mr. Dodge had great engineering
skill and ability is demonstrated bj^ the great problems he so bril-
liantly solved, and his genius as an engineer was known and appre-
ciated by railway men of affairs.

Rensselaer L. Meader. As a business builder few Eau Claire citi-
zens have a record that compares favorably with that of Mr. Meader. In
a number of ways his name is identified with the business history of this
section of Wisconsin, Avhere he has spent the greater part of his active
career. I\lr. Meader is a man of self -attainments, who began at the bot-
tom in business and by his industry and applied ability has fought his
way to recognition as a leader and has acquired all the elements of sub-
stantial support.

Rensselaer L. Meader was born in Hesper, Winneshiek county, Iowa,
October 30, 1871. He was the third in a family of four children born
to August H. and Abbie L. (Lamb) Meader. The father was a native
of Indiana and from that state, when he was a young man, located in
Winneshiek county, Iowa, where he was engaged in farming and stock
raising, and subsequently moved to Mabel, Minnesota, where he spent
his last days retired. He was a substantial business man and a good
citizen, whose public spirit was always manifest when required for
united helpfulness in his community. The mother was born in New
York state, and is now living at the age of sixty-four years. The parents
were married in Hesper, Iowa, and of their four children the first two
were twins, Margaret and May, the first dying in infancy, and the latter
in 1907, as the wife of Edward Johnson. The third child was the Eau
Claire business man, and the youngest was Lucj^ the wife of Ray Harvey.

Mr. R. L. Meader attained his education in the public schools of Hes-
per, and when still a young man obtained a place as clerk in a general
merchandise store at Bloomer, Wisconsin, where he spent- one year and
then moved to Drummond in this state. In 1892 he became shipping
clerk for the Eau Claire Grocery Company, and was connected with that
firm for a number of years, during which time he laid a solid foundation
for his subsequent business success. In 1896, he resigned his position
as traveling salesman for the company, and located at Neillsville, Wis-
consin, where he established a retail grocery business of his own, and
conducted it with fair success until 1898. He then transferred his busi-
ness enterprise to Eau Claire, where he resumed the retail grocery trade
and conducted a prosperous store in this city, until 1904. At that date

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1403

he established the wholesale confectionery business with which his name
has since been associated.

Mr. Header has been honored with election to the city council from
the Third Ward for one term, and fraternally is affiliated with the Mas-
ons, the Elks and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a Republican.
On December IS, 1900, he married Miss Louise E. Eilert, who was born
in Neillsville, Clark county, Wisconsin. The three children born of their
marriage, and now comprising the happy home circle at Eau Claire, are
John Lawrence, Ernest Eilert and Rensselaer.

August Friedrich Frank. The late August Friedrich Frank, in
whose death, November 26, 1886, the city of Milwaukee lost one of its
most successful drygoods merchants, was born May 7, 1821, in Ober-
gimpern. Province of Baden, Germany, as the son of the Lutheran min-
ister, Jolianu Heiurich Frank. After a thorough education in the parish
school of his native town under the guidance of his father he entered
the mercantile calling as apprentice in various cities of his native state,
until he received a good appointment as ' ' eommis voy ageur ' ' in the firm
of August Knapp & Sons, Reutliugeu, Wurtemberg, well-known manu-
facturers of cloths, Avhere he remained five years. In this capacity he
gained an enviable reputation as a commercial traveler, laying the foun-
dation for his future successful career in America.

The unbearable political conditions of the revolutionary period in
Germany induced him to emigrate to America in July, 1850, accomj^anied
by his married sister, her husband, Edward Barek, and an unmarried
sister. They had been advised to settle in Michigan on a farm ten miles
west of Saginaw City. Like thousands of their countrymen they were
called upon to lead the strenuous life of the pioneer, bringing the virgin
soil under cultivation, a life full of hardships-, not much to the taste
of the cultured European. Discouraged by the unaccustomed manual
labor, the young German-American eagerly accepted an opportunity to
engage in the mercantile vocation in Milwaukee, entering into a partner-
ship with Mr. Julius Goll, of the dry goods firm of Goll & Stern, ]\Ir.
Henry Stern, the former partner retiring. This was the foundation of
the firm of Goll & Frank, July 3, 1852, which was to develop into one
of the largest establishments of its kind in the Northwest. On July 18th
of the same year, ]\Ir. Frank was married to Veronika Kerler, of Mem-
mingen, Germany, who had emigrated to America with her father in
1849, residing on a farm nine miles west of Milwaukee. The result of
this union was eight children, three of whom are now living: John H.,
Dr. Louis Frederick, both of Milwaukee; and August, Jr., of Racine.
After the death of his first wife, February 28, 1864, Mr. Frank was mar-
ried to Bertha Hueflfner, of Racine, and one child of this union still sur-
vives, Julius 0., vice president of the Goll & Frank Company.

The young firm of Goll & Frank began to thrive from the very begin-

1404 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

ning, this beiug due to conservative methods, careful utilization of advan-
tageous opportunities, close application and economy. The partnership
was a most harmonious and well-matched one, Mr. Goll being well known
as an excellent, far-seeing financier and Mv. Frank as a keen observer
of human nature and applying his thorough knowledge of business
methods acquired in Europe. Not inclined, like the American business
man, to attempt to win a fortune at one stroke by hazardous speculation,
they followed the long, but reliable course which offered no chances of
sudden fluctuations or reverses.

The new firm of Goll & Frank located at what is now 447 East Water
street, and occupied the first floor of the 20x100 ft. building, the upper
floors being used by Mr. and Mrs. Frank as their home. The firm owned
a horse and wagon and frequent trips into the neighboring counties were
undertaken by the young partner. In 1855, to accommodate their in-
creasing trade, the store known as No. 463 East Water street was rented.
In 1860 they moved into their third store, No. 443 East Water street.
With keen foresight, the advance of the markets at the breaking out of
the Civil war was noted and heavy purchases made, a venture proving
judicious and profitable, establishing a good credit and reputation for
sound business discretion. The retail portion of the business was now
separated from the wholesale and placed in charge of ^Ir. J. H. Hantzsch,
at the corner of Third and Prairie streets. Again the rapidly increasing
business compelled the firm, in 1863, to purchase the store building
known as Nos. 261 and 263 East Water street. In June, 1872, this build-
ing was struck by lightning, causing so much damage that the store had
to be rebuilt with increased accommodations. Gradually more ground
was added until 1896, when all the buildings were torn down and the
present massive, ornate and excellently appointed structure known as
Nos. 255 to 265 East Water street was erected. This plan was devised
and carried out by the junior members of the firm soon after the death
of Messrs. Julius Goll and August Frank, during a time of general
depression, when it took courage to put money into any undertaking.
But they placed faith in the growth and future of ]\Iilwaukee and the
great Northwest and the building will long stand as a fitting monument
to the founders of the firm.

On January 1, 1885, the firm was changed into a corporation, under
the name of the Goll & Frank Company, with a capital of $250,000,
which in 1897 was increased to $500,000. The present directors are as
follows: Fred T. Goll, Julius O. Frank, Oscar Loeffler and Dr. Louis F.
Frank.

Mr. Julius Goll died January 1, 1896, of heart trouble, and Mr.
August Frank suddenly of apoplexy, November 26, 1886, on the North
German Lloyd steamer Alter, as he returned from a European trip with
his wife and two sons. In summarizing this short biographical sketch
of Mr. August Frank, it is fitting to include that of Mr. Julius Goll. his

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1405

friend and faithful eo-worker for thirty-five years. Neither of them
ever aspired to political honors, attending strictly to business and
refraining from speculation. They were endowed with a liberal spirit,
ever ready to contribute to all charitable and educational work. Their
family lives were exemplary, As men of culture and refinement they
delighted in literary pleasures, especially Mr. Goll, whose linguistic
attainments enabled him to read the best treasures of the English, Ger-
man and French literature in the original, while Mr. Frank's jovial
nature inclined more to sociability, love of nature and German "Ge-
muethlichkeit, " which made him "a prince of a host."

' ' Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances ;

"Strong men believe in cause and effect."

• — ^Emerson.

Louis Frederick Frank, M. D. It is not usual for one to find, in a
city as full of men ambitious to reach still greater successes, whether
in business or in public or professional life, as ]\Iilwaukee undoubtedly
is, one who is content with the rewards which years of assiduous
endeavor have brought him in respect to fortune, and is willing to
devote a large portion of his energy, while yet his powers are undimin-
ished, to the cultivation of music and literature for the perfection of his
own life and for the welfare of the community in which he has made
his home. Yet rare as is the combination, it is exemplified in the career
of Dr. Louis Frederick Frank, which it is the intention of the biographer
briefly and all too inadequately, to sketch.

Doctor Frank is a native son of Milwaukee, and was born April 15,
1857, a son of August and Veronika (Kerler) Frank. A member of a
pioneer German-American family, he is descended from Pastor Frank
a wise, broad-minded, strong and lovable man, a veteran of the German
struggle for freedom in 1814, and a graduate of the University of Jena.
After serving as vicar in various parishes. Pastor Frank accepted a call
to Dietlingen, in 1840, and there continued to live and to labor until his
death in 1864. Two of his daughters continued to reside in Germany,
one, Bertha, becoming the wife of Pastor Foerster, at Ittlingen, and the
youngest child, Mathilde, marrying a Mr. Seyffardt, a wealthy merchant
at Crefeld on the Rhine. Two daughters came to America, and with
their husbands, Barck and Seyffardt, led the life of actual pioneers on
the Titibawassee river, near Saginaw, Michigan. August Frank, the
second son, accompanied his sisters to the United States and became the
father of Dr. Louis F. Frank ; Ernst, the youngest son, came to America
and was engaged in business in Louisville, New York and Milwaukee,
and was a resident of Bay City, Michigan until his death in December,
1913 ; while Heinrich Frank, the oldest son, after twelve years of advent-
urous life in strange lands, came to America and settled on a Michigan
farm, spending the closing years of his life on a farm near Milwaukee.

1406 IIJ STORY OF AVISCONSIN

August Friedrich Frank, sou of Pastor Frank, and father of Dr.
Louis F. Frank, was born May 7, 1821, in Obergimpern, Province of
Baden, Germany, and there received a thorough education in the parish
school under the preceptorship of his father. He entered the mercan-
tile trade as an apprentice, and when he had thoroughly mastered his
vocation secured an excellent position as "commis voyageur" in the
firm of August Knapp & Sons, Reutlingen, Wuerttemberg. The strug-
gle for political independence in his native land in 1850, caused Mr,
Frank to seek a new field of endeavor, and accordingly in July of that
year he landed in the United States and came directly to a Michigan
farm, ten miles west of Saginaw City. With the life of an agricultur-
ist, however, he was not satisfied, and when the opportunity came he
again entered mercantile life, this time as partner v\'ith Mr. Julius Goll,
of the firm of Goll & Stern, Mr. Henry Stern, the former partner, retir-
ing. On July 3, 1852, was formed the firm of Goll & Frank, which was
destined to become one of the largest establishments of its kind in the
Northwest. Beginning in a humble manner, it grew steadily until the
outbreak of the Civil war, when, through the foresight of the partners
the business leaped into the forefront of Milwaukee establishments,
establishing a reputation that has been sustained to the present time.
While returning from a European trip with his wife and two sons, Mr.
Frank suddenly expired of apoplexy, on the North German steamer
AUer, November 26, 1886. His partner died January 1, 1896, biit the
business that they founded, now known as the Goll & Frank Company,
Inc., still lives. This business was capitalized in 1897 at $500,000, and
its present directing board consists of the following members: Fred T.
Goll, Julius 0. Frank, Oscar Loeffler and Dr. Louis F. Frank. Mr.
Frank was essentially a business man and never sought the doubtful
honors of the political arena. A man of jovial natui'e and genial person-
ality, he made friends wherever he became known, and his death was
widely and sincerely mourned. He was married (first) July 18, 1852,
to Veronika Kerler, of Memmingen, Germany, and eight children were
born to their union, of whom three are living : John H. and Dr. Louis
F., of Milwaukee; and Augiist, Jr., of Racine. Mr. Frank's second mar-
riage was to Miss Bertha Hueffner, of Racine, and one child of this
union still survives : Julius 0., a resident of Milwaukee.

Louis Frederick Frank attended the parochial schools of Grace
church and the Markham (Milwaukee) Academy, from the latter of
which he was graduated in 1875. He began the study of medicine at
the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he remained two years,
following which he passed one year in the medical department of the
University of the City of New York, being graduated therefrom in 1878.
Following this, Doctor Frank continued his studies for two years in
Europe, attending the universities and clinics of Wuerzburg, (where he
received the title of Doctor of Medicine) Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Lon-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1407

clou. Returiiing to his native city iu 1880, he entered upon the general
practice of his profession. He was married to Miss Emily Inbusch,
daughter of John D. Inbusch, in 1881, and to this union there were born
three children: Edwin, Elsa and Emily. In 1890, during the severe
epidemic of influenza in this city, his wife died. Doctor Frank then left
for Europe to take up the special studj^ of dermatology with Dr. Paul
Unna, at Hamburg, Kaposi at Vienna and Fournier at Paris, returning
to Milwaukee in the fall of 1891 and devoting his professional duties
to the practice of dermatology. In 1892 he was united in marriage to
IMiss Ella Schandein, and their children are Armin and Louise.

Doctor Frank is a member of the Milwaukee ^Medical Society, the Mil-
waukee County Medical Society, the State Medical Society of Wisconsin
and the American Medical Association. In 1893 he served as president
of the Milwaukee City body. He was first president and one of the
organizers of the Johnston Emergency Hospital, and in 1900 was a del-
egate to the Pan-American Medical Congress at Havana, and numerous
other honors have been conferred upon him by his professional brethren.
He is a man of studious habits and is universally respected for the
breadth as well as the accuracy of his knowledge. His learning is pro-
found and copious, and the powers of his mind are admirably balanced
and have been severely disciplined. AVhile the prospect of inheriting
a liberal fortune frequently saps the ambition of young men and turns
their thoughts toward self-indulgence and idle luxury, here is one born
to wealth who has applied his vigorous powers to a laborious and respon-
sible profession, and, not content with such abundant labor, 'has inter-
ested himself iu the welfare of his kind, in stimulating a taste for art
and literature. Aside from his professional duties. Doctor Frank is
especially interested in the art of music, being a member of the various
musical organizations of the city and president of the flourishing Wis-
consin Conservatory of Music. An amateur musician and author of a
number of widely-copied articles on various musical subjects, his home
is adorned by an artistic music room, containing a pipe organ and
grand pianos, in which eminent artists are w^elcomed on their visits to
]\Iilwaukee. He served four terms as president of the ^lilwaukee Mus-
ical Society, and was its honorary president at its semi-centennial cele-
bration in 1900. Doctor Frank is widely known in literary circles, and
at the present time is writing a history of the Milwaukee medical profes-
sion from its very beginning. Of his comprehensive work regarding the
pioneer history of his parents, a contemporary critic has written : ' ' The
book is unique. It touches a phase of European history which must ever
stir the heart of any descendant of the men of '48, for that year marks
the stormy insurrection in Baden and the Palatinate. ... A volume
had 'swam into my ken' that must be prized and cherished as a worthy
memorial of German labors and idealism in this part of the world. This
'liber epistolarum' is in many respects a literary and historical treasure.
It is a veritable chapter of what the Germans call 'culture-history.' "

1408 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Hon. William Pitt Bartlett. Now living in Eau Claire at the age
of eighty-four, Mr. Bartlett is one of the remarkable pioneers still sur-
viving the passage of many years and many fruitful experiences in this
state. He A\as one of the first settlers at Eau Claire, which has been his
home for more than fifty-five years. He is one of the oldest, if not the
oldest, representative of Masonry in this state.

Few men, even in so long a lifetime, have greatei- opportunities for
disinterested service in behalf of the public welfare than have come to
]\Ir. Bartlett, and very few indeed have improved such opportunities
with greater advantage to the community and state, and with more
honor to themselves. A sketch of his career serves to exemplify the best
qualities which have characterized the oldest citizenship of AVisconsin
during the past half century, and among the older citizens none more
properly deserve a place in this present work than the Eau Claire
pioneer.

William Pitt Bartlett was born at "Minot, ]\Iaine, September 13, 1829,
being the eighth in a family of eleven children, six sons and five daugh-
ters, whose parents were John H. and Phebe (Burbank) Bartlett. John
H. Bartlett, the father, was born at Elliott, Maine, January 9, 1789, and
in 1833 moved to New Portland in that state. He was a clothier by occu-
pation, and erected a clothing and carding mill, a saw-mill, a grist mill
and a clover mill in New Portland. For a number of years, however, he
devoted most of his attention to lumbering interests.

William Pitt Bartlett was reared in the atmosphere of a typical New
England home, with all its culture and its high principles of conduct
and character. During his youth the portion of i\Iaine in which he
lived was sparsely settled and opportunities for schooling Avere meagre.
He applied himself thoroughly and utilized such advantages as were
given him and at the age of fifteen obtained a certificate to teach. With
money earned as a teacher, he paid his way through the academy of
Parmington and Bloomfield, and at the age of twenty entered Water-
ville College, which has since become the well known Colby College,
where he was graduated after a full college course in 1853. One of his
classmates in that college was H. M. Plaisted, who subsequently became
a governor of Maine, and his son was governor of Maine during 1911-
12. Another schoolmate was H. W. Richardson, who for many years
was prominent as the editor of the Portland Advertiser. After leaving
college he became principal of the Hallowell Academy, one of the old-
est institutions of the kind in the state of Maine and resigned from that
place in 1855. In the meantime he had decided to make his profession
in the law, and had directed his studies to that end. As his almost con-
tinuous studies had weakened a not very robust constitution he came
west, in order to train both body and mind for his future career of use-
fulness, and in 1855 located at Watertown, Wisconsin. He was engaged
in teaching in that city for nearly six months, and at the same time

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1409

carried ou his studies in law until the spring of 1856, when he was
admitted to the bar in Jefferson county.

Mr. Bartlett came to Eau Claire, then a village of a few hundred
inhabitants, in May, 1857. He was the first lawyer to locate in the
county, and is therefore the dean of his profession in this section of the
state, and it may be properly said that none among his various contem-
poraries has ever attained a greater prominence or place of more use-
fulness than Mr. Bartlett. His experience as a teacher and his prom-
inence resulting from his membership in the bar caused him to be
appointed a member of the school board within two weeks after his
arrival at Eau Claire, and he was re-elected again and again until he
had given twenty-nine years of service. In the fall of 1857 he was also
elected to the office of district attorney of Eau Claire county, and in
1859 while still in that office, he was elected to the legislature from the
district composed of Eau Claire, Clark, Pepin, Dunn, Chippewa and
Pierce counties. He made a conspicuous record in the house and was
chairman of the committee on federal relations, which in 1860 was one
of the most important of the house committees, and was also a member
of the judiciary committee. In the spring of 1860 Governor Alexander
Randall appointed Mr. Bartlett .judge of Eau Claire county, an office
which he held for about two years. In 1861 he was again elected district
attorney, and re-elected in 1863, so that he served three successive terms
in that position. In 1872, when Eau Claire county had become a district
by itself, he was again sent to the legislature, and during his term was
chairman of the committees on federal relations and education, and a
member of the judiciary committee. In 1874 came his appointment as
registrar of the United States land office at Eau Claire, this appoint-
ment coming from President Grant and the term continuing for four
years. In 1878 President Hayes reappointed him, but he soon after-
wards resigned after live years of service.

In the spring of 1884 Judge Bartlett was appointed to a vacancy in
the board of regents in the University of Wisconsin. He was reap-
pointed for three terms of three years each, and gave the iiniversity
the benefit of his large experience and a thorough interest in affairs of
education. In 1890 he was elected president of the board, and re-elected
in 1893. It was his privilege during his official connection with the
university to witness the enrollment of students increase from a meager
four hundred to two thousand or more, and the expansion of the facil-
ities and the services of the institution until it took rank among the
foremost institutions of higher education in America. His total service
on the board of regents was for thirteen years.

From the time he located in Eau Claire in 1857 until within recent
years. Mr. Bartlett was one of the ponspicuous members of the county
bar. He acquired a reputation of especial note as a counselor and as a
trial lawyer in chancery cases and in cases of appeal. He has been

UIO HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

very successful in his practice and for many years had a large clientage
which represented the best class of legal business in the northwestern
part of the state. During his later years he gave considerable attention
to business affairs. His investments were largely directed into the lum-
ber interests of Oregon, and he was vice president of a lumber company
of that state. In 1903 he was elected president of the bank of Eau
Claire, and by its consolidation with the Chippewa Valley Bank, organ-
ized the Union National Bank, of which he w'as chosen president. He
held that office until about two years ago, when he resigned.

A local publication has made an interesting note concerning his con-
nection with Masonry. According to this account, Mr. Bartlett is the
only charter member of the Eau Claire Lodge No. 112, A. F. & A. M.,
now living. He became a Mason in Kennebec Lodge No. 5 at Hollowell,
Maine, October 20, 1854, and shortly after coming to Eau Claire on
May 17, 1857, he and six other pioneers, among whom were the late
H. P. Putnam, D. R. Moon and — Foote, organized the first lodge in his.
law office and applied for a state charter.

In politics Mr. Bartlett deserves distinction as being one of the last
of the original organizers of the Republican party in this state. Since

1856, the year of the first national campaign of that party, he has been
a steady and influential factor in its power and influence in national
and local affairs. Mr. Bartlett was married August 15, 1861, to Miss
Hattie Hart, a daughter of Edward W. Hart, of Baraboo. Wisconsin.
Mrs. Bartlett passed away in August, 1912, at the age of seventy-three
years. Five children, four sons and one daughter, were born to their
marriage, and the three sons now living are Edward W.. who graduated
from the Iowa State University and is now a prominent lawyer in the
state of Oregon ; Frank H., who graduated from the University of Wis-
consin in 1892, and is now assistant secretary of the Rust-Owen Lumber
Company of Drummond, Wisconsin; and Stanley P.. who is in the lum-
ber business at Coquelle, Oregon. Sumner P. was killed in 1898, during
the Spanish-American war, at Porto Rico. One daughter. [Mrs. Levilla
Winchell, resides at ]\Ielrose, ^Massachusetts.

James Bardon is a citizen of Superior, whose residence in Wiscon-
sin for more than half a century has been accompanied by many
distinctive and valuable services to his community and state. James
Bardon, the eldest of the children of Richard Bardon and Mary
(Roche) Bardon was born on November 25, 1844, in Wexford county,
Ireland, the county noted as having made the greatest struggle in the
unsuccessful rebellion of 1798, during Avhich his grandfathers were in
active service as rebels. There are records of the name Bardon
in Ireland as early as the tenth century. The family came to America
in 1846, flrst locating in Maysville, Kentucky, where they resided until

1857, Avhen they removed to Superior, .arriving there on July 6th of

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1411

that year. Richard Bardon died January 11, 1889, aged seventy-four
years, while serving his second term as county judge of Douglas
county. Mrs. Mary Bardon died September 3, 1901, aged seventy-
eight years.

James Bardon attended the local schools, and in early life was
variously engaged in farming, road building, surveying, mining, lum-
bering and in vocations usually incident to pioneering. In 1862,
during the appalling massacre of white settlers in Minnesota by the
savage Sioux Indians, he was a member of the State militia company,
organized in Superior, and assisted in building a stockade and in
other defenses for the protection of the isolated white settlers in the
country about Superior and Duluth.

In 1867 he was a teacher in the district schools, and during the
following two decades he owned and operated a saw mill and a shingle
mill at Superior, and besides editing and publishing the village news-
paper, the Superior Times, served terms as clerk of the circuit court
and county treasurer. He was active in the efforts to bring railroads
and industrial plants to the head of the lakes, and was an original
corporator in the Duluth & Winnipeg Railroad, the Superior Street
Railway, the Inter-State Bridge Company, the St. Louis River Water
Power Company, and in several land and development corporations;
also was president of the First National Bank organized at Superior,
and later of the original Bank of Superior.

Mr. Bardon was chairman of the County Board of Douglas county
in 1884 and 1885, and served several terms as supervisor in later
years. He was a member of the first City Council of Superior, and
has served upon the school and library boards. He was on the state
committee with Senator LaFollette, Archbishop Katzer and Frederick
Layton, which selected for the State of Wisconsin the marble statue
of Father Marquette, the most noted figure in Statuary Hall in the
National Capital at Washington. He was a delegate to the Demo-
cratic National Conventions which nominated Mr. Cleveland in 1884
and 1892, and represented his state upon the notification of Committee
in the latter year.

James Bardon is always active in general development, especially
in looking after appropriations for harbor improvements, and in that
interest usually visits Washington once or twice every year. He
recently took a leading part in locating and building the County
Insane Asylum near Superior. He is president of the Superior His-
torical Society, and a member of the Superior Commercial Club and
the Chamber of Commerce.

He was married in 1884 to Miss Emma W. Conan, a native of
Watertown, Wisconsin, and with his wife and only daughter, Miss
Winifred E. Bardon, resides at 225 West Fifth Street, East End,
Superior.

1412 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Thomas Bardon. A prominent banker and business man of Ashland,
with varied interests both, in this state and elsewhere, Thomas Bardon
is one of the men whose character and activities naturally give him a
position of leadership, and in both business and civic affairs, his has
been an active and useful part in Ashland for many years. The home
of the family has been in Wisconsin for more than fifty-six years, and
for nearly thirty years Mr. Bardon has been president of the Ashland
National Bank.

Born in Maysville, Kentucky, on the twenty-second of October,
18-48, Thomas Bardon is a son of Richard and Mary (Roche) Bardon,
both of whom were natives of Wexford, Ireland. From Ireland the
parents came to America in 1844, living for some years in New York
City, and in 1847, going to Maysville, Kentucky, where the father
spent ten years in the leather and shoe business. In 1857 the family
came to Wisconsin, arriving in Superior on the sixth of July. Richard
Bardon during the first of his active years was not only a good busi-
ness man, but participated in. public affairs, serving as clerk of the
county courts and later as county judge. Several years before his
death he retired from business activities, and he and his wife died
in Superior. His political support was always given to the Demo-
cratic party. The seven children of Richard and Mary Bardon are
all still living.

Second in age among the children, Thomas Bardon was nine years
old when the family moved to Wisconsin, and his education began in
the Kentucky schools was continued at Superior, where he graduated
from the high school. His early choice of vocation was that of civil
engineering, for which his studies and practical experience well pre-
pared him and from 1867 until 1871 his professional ability was em-
ployed during the preliminary construction of the Northern Pacific
Railway. In 1872 Mr. Bardon located in Ashland, Avhich has been his
home now for more than forty years. His early business activities were
directed to real estate, dealing chiefly in timber and iron land, and in
that way he laid the foundation of his present prosperity. In 1885 a
group of local citizens including Mr. Bardon organized the Ashland
National Bank, and since its doors were opened for business, Mr. Bardon
has held the office of president. Outside of banking his interests are of
such varied nature that they cannot be easily enumerated. They
include investment in copper mines in Arizona, iron mines in both
Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in timber properties along the Pacific
coast.

Mr. Bardon has never been entirely a banker or business man and
has always known how to use money as well as how to make it, and
how to live as well as how to work. His alert mind and broad inter-
ests are well indicated by some of his connections Avith literary and
historical bodies. He has membership in the Mississippi Valley His-

1219063

IfYliM

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1413

torical Association, is a life member of the Wisconsin Historical
Society, belongs to the National Geographical Society and the Wis-
consin Archeological Society. His citizenship has always been of the
most public spirited character, though he is in no sense a politician,
and has worked for the good of the community, rather than for his
personal honor. Mr. Bardon served as chairman of the town board
one term, and as mayor of Ashland for four terms ; his administra-
tion of city atfairs having set a high standard of efficiency and scrupu-
lous honesty.

Mr. Bardon is President of the Shattuck Arizona Copper Co., one
of the rich, active shipping mines at Bisbee, Arizona, employing a
large force of miners. He is Vice President of the Northern Chief
Iron Co.. a corporation owning the fee to valuable iron mines on the
Gogebic Iron Range in Wisconsin, from wliich royalties are collected.

He is also President of the Cuyuna Iron & Land Co., a Minnesota
corporation, with properties on the Cuyuna Iron Range, in that state.
He is a member of the firm of Bardon, Kellogg & Co., a merchandise
concern of Ashland.

In 1884 Mr. Bardon married Jennie Grant, of Winona, Minnesota.
They are the parents of two children: Belle is now the wife of
George H. Quayle, of Cleveland, Ohio ; Thomas, Jr., having graduated
from Yale University, is now attending the law school of the Univer^
sity of New York, in New York City, and is also engaged in the work
of his profession, in a prominent law office of that city.

Charles M. Merrill. President of the Eau Claire Grocery Com-
pany, Mr. Merrill is now recognized as one of the foremost among the
larger merchants and business men of northern Wisconsin. A little
more than thirty years ago he was a clerk in a store, subsequently be-
came a traveling salesman, and after a long and thorough experience
in all departments of business, he reached the point where he took an
independent part in business life. He is a merchant who thoroughly
understands all the details of his business, is a social organizer and
extender of business and has built up the Eau Claire Grocery Com-
pany to be one of the strongest firms of the kind in the state.

Charles M. Merrill is a native of Utiea, New York, where he was
born April 25, 1857, a son of Milton H. and Sarah L. Hardiman Mer-
rill. The father was born in Utiea, New York, in 1830 and died Feb-
ruary 6, 1912. The mother was born at Hadley, in Hampshire, Eng-
■ land, in 1828, and passed away July 28, 1893. The parents were mar-
ried in Utiea, and Charles M. Merrill was the oldest of their four chil-
dren, the others being as follows: Nettie L., the wife of J. M. Brunt, of
Decorah, Iowa; LaMott; and William D. The father was a prominent
man in New Yojk State. For a number of years he was superintendent
of a transportation company on the old Erie Canal, and in the fall of

1414 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

1857 came west and located at Decorali, Iowa, where he was engaged in
the produce business and as a farmer during the rest of his active
career. He had the distinction of being a delegate to the tirst Whig con-
vention held at Albany, New York, and after the dissolution of the Whig
party he became a Republican.

Mr. Charles M. ]\Ierrill was an infant when the family came west and
located at Decorah, Iowa, and his youth in that state was spent in an
almost pioneer environment. After he had gained his education in the
Decorah schools and the Decorah Institute, he began his career as a
teacher and taught for four years in his home county. Then he became
a clerk in a general store, and in 1881 went upon the road as a traveling
salesman for a wholesale drygoods house. This experience continued
Avith various promotions, and changes for the better, until 1905, at which
date he accepted the presidency of the Eau Claire Grocery Company of
Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Mr. Merrill is affiliated with Eau Claire Lodge No. 112, A. F. & A.
M., and with Eau Claire Chapter No. 36, R. A. ^I. In polities he is a
Republican. He -was married on Christmas day of 1881 to Miss Ida
A. Fletcher, who was born at Bluff ton, in Winneshiek county, Iowa.

Albert Michael Newald. Definite success and prestige as pne of
the representative younger members of the bar of j\Iilwaukee indicate
the secure status of Mr. Newald, who is known for his excellent intel-
lectual and professional attainments and his marked civic loyalty and
public spirit. He is a scion of old and honored families in Wisconsin,
where both his paternal and maternal ancestors established their resi-
dences in the pioneer epoch, and he is one of the well known and dis-
tinctively popular members of the bar of his native city, with the civic
and business affairs of which the family name has been long and
worthily identified.

Mr. Newald was born in Milwaukee on the 11th of April, 1884, and
is a son of M. D. and Emma (Wirth) NeM'ald, the former of whom was
born at Hamilton, province of Ontario, Canada, and the latter of whom
was born near the city of Milwaukee, their marriage having here been
solemnized on the 5th of November, 1882. He whose name initiates this
review was named in honor of his paternal grandfather, IMichael Newald,
who is a native of Germany and who established his home in Wisconsin
in an early day, having come to this state from the Dominion of Canada.
Both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives in ^Milwaukee
and they were honored by all who knew^ them.

Edward Wirth, maternal grandfather of him to whom this sketch is
dedicated, was long numbered among the prominent and highly es-
teemed citizens of Milwaukee, and here his death occurred on the 14th
of July. 1904. His widow, Mrs. Caroline Wirth, still resides in Mil-
waiikee. Edward Wirth was boi^n in Gemiinden, Germany, on the 28th

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1415

of February, 1834, and in 1852 he came to Wisconsin and established his
residence in Milwaukee, where he passed the residue of his long and use-
ful life. He became one of the most prominent and extensive horse deal-
ers of the state, having been originally a member of the firm of Wirth
Brothers and later the head of the firm of Wirth, Hammel & Company,
which gained high reputation as the most extensive concern in the west
in the business of dealing in horses. Mr. Wirth retired from active busi-
ness a few years prior to his death. He was a man of impregnable integ-
rity and of most genial and companionable personality and was widely
known in the states of the middle west and was long one of the most
progressive and public-spirited of the representative business men of
the Wisconsin metropolis.

M. D. Newald, the father of Albert M. Newald, has been actively
identified with the business of buying and selling horses and other enter-
prises for the long period of thirty years and now controls a most ex-
tensive business in 'this line, his individual operations being conducted
under the title of M. D. Newald & Company and his being definite prece-
dence as the best known and most successful horse dealer in Wisconsin,
in which field of enterprise he is an acknowledged authority. He is a
substantial and popular man of affairs, liberal, charitable and reliable
in all his dealings, and has shown a loyal interest in all that touches the
welfare of his home city and state, where his circle of friends is virtually
coincident with that of his acquaintances. He served as a member of the
Wisconsin National Guard for a period of five years, at the expiration
of which he received his honorable discharge, and in the time-honored
Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the An-
cient Accepted Scottish Rite, besides which he is actively identified with
the Milwaukee Athletic Club and the local Jewish Charities organization.

Albert M. Newald is indebted to the public schools of Milwaukee for
his early educational discipline, which included the curriculum of the
West Division high school. In pursuance of his higher academic educa-
tion he entered historic old Harvard University, in which he was grad-
uated as a member of the class of 1906, with the degree of Bachelor of
Arts. In preparation for the work of his chosen profession he pursued
the prescribed course in the Harvard Law School, in which he was grad-
uated in 1908 and from which he received the well earned degree of
Bachelor of Laws. Mr. Newald early exhibited marked oratorical and
dialectic ability, and he represented the West Division high school of
Milwaukee in an interscholastic debate, besides which, in the spring of
1905, he was captain of the debating team of Harvard University in the
victorious contest with the debating team of Yale University. Through
his ability and earnest application Mr. Newald made an admirable rec-
ord as a student at Harvard, where he won scholarship honors, besides
which he was president of the Harlan Law Club during his senior year
in the Harvard Law School. He has continued a most earnest and

1416 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

appreciative student along professional lines and in the domain of gen-
eral literature, this being distinctively shown through his having accu-
mulated one of the largest and most select private libraries in the city of
Milwaukee.

In the summer of 1908 Mr. Newald was admitted to the bar of his
native state. In initiating the active work of his profession ]Mr. Newald
entered the law office of the well known Milwaukee firm of Bloodgood,
Kemper & Bloodgood, but five months later he severed this association,
on the 1st of February, 1909, and engaged in the independent practice
of his profession. Energy, ability and close application have character-
ized his endeavors in his exacting vocation and he has thus won success
and prestige and has attained to a place among the able and popular
attorneys of the younger generation in the Wisconsin metropolis, where
he controls a substantial general practice and has served as legal repre-
sentative of various corporations and important estates. His well ap-
pointed offices are located in Suite 524 Caswell Block, and he is an active
and popular member of the ^Milwaukee County Bar.

At the age of twenty-one years Mr. Newald identified himself with
the Masonic fraternity, in which he is affiliated with Milwaukee Lodge,
No. 261, Free and Accepted Masons. He is well fortified in his convic-
tions concerning matters of governmental and economic polity. He
holds membership in the Order of B'nai B'rith and also in the Harvard
Club in his native city. Both he and his wdfe are popular factors in the
social activities of the community.

In the spacious parlors of the Athenaeum at Milwaukee, on the 16th of
December, 1912, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Newald to Miss
Pearl Evelyn Levy, who attended Wellesley College from 1909 to 1911
and who is a daughter of the late Henry L. Levy, to whom a memoir is
dedicated on other pages of this volume, so that further reference to the
family history is not demanded in tlie present connection.

William H. Smith. The origin of every large industrial or com-
mercial enterprise is usually found in a single individual, some man
possessing the initiative, the persistent energy, and the ability which are
necessary for the founding and creation of large undertakings. In the
city of La Crosse, the Smith Manufacturing Company is considered one
of the permanent institutions of the city, a concern which has been in
existence for half a century, and the activities of which furnish employ-
ment and the means of livelihood to hundreds of the inhabitants of La
Crosse. The company is now a family concern, and the business is
maintained by descendants of the original founder, who was William
H. Smith.

William H. Smith was born in Stafford, Tolland county, Connecti-
cut, February 5, 1824. With his parents he moved to Syracuse, New
York, in 1830, where he spent his boyhood days, and attended the com-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1417

mon schools and later the academy at Onondaga. In 1843 he came out
to the territory of Wisconsin, locating first at Kenosha, where he was
employed in the foundry of Benedict & Frances. In 1845 he entered
the foundry of Wilson & Burgess at Racine, and while there made the
first casting ever turned out in that city, one of the largest centers of
manufactured iron and steel products in the state. From Racine Mr.
Smith went to Milwaukee, and was employed for a time in the foundry
of A. J. Langworthy. In the year 1848 he was in Waukesha, and was
employed there in a foundry for about four years, the firm name of
which was Smith & Blair. In 1852 he located at Portage. From Port-
age, in 1861, Mr. Smith transferred his enterprise to the town of La
Crosse, "and there became associated with Mr. Merrill, the firm being
known as Dean-Smith & Co. In 1876, at the death of Mr. Dean, the firm
name was changed to Smith & Merrill. There business prospered and
grew, and was the foundation of the present Smith Manufacturing Com-
pany.

The Smith Manufacturing Company as it now exists was organized
in 1886, and incorporated the same year. The original officers were:
Frank E. Smith, president; F. A. Smith, vice president; B. C. Smith,
secretary; W. L. Smith, superintendent; and C. W. Smith, assistant
superintendent. Mr. F. E. Smith has served as alderman of the city of
La Crosse for four years. Mr. B. C. Smith was elected an alderman in
1909, and has served to the present year, 1913. He is also a member of
the Knights of Pythias and the B. P. 0. E. and is a director in both the
Batavian Bank and the La Crosse Trust Company. W. L. and F. A.
Smith are both members of the Masonic Order, and all the brothers are
staunch Republicans. The individuals members of the Smith Manufac-
turing Company are directors in the Batavian National Bank of La
Crosse and have influential membership in the La Crosse Board of Trade.
The Smith Manufacturing Company is known all over the state as one
of the best equipped wagon-making plants in the west. The company
turns out about four thousand wagons every year, and has some sixty-
five skilled workmen on its payroll.

Ori J. SoRENSEN. The business career of Ori J. Sorensen in La Crosse
has covered a period of more than a quarter of a century, during which
time he has been connected with some of the city 's leading business enter-
prises. It has been shown that there is no special providence in success
or failure ; each man must work out his own salvation. At any rate there
are few who would have the temerity to state that Mr. Sorensen 's success
has come as a result of aught else than individual effort and ability.
Essentially a business man, with the multitudinous cares incident to
the management of a large commercial enterprise to occupy his time, he
has yet found time to give to the duties of citizenship, and in high public
ofifice has served his city faithfully and well.

1418 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Mr. Soi-ensen was born in ]\Iadison, Wisconsin, November 12, 1856,
and is a son of D. T. and Wilhelmina (Peterson) Sorensen. His parents,
natives of Denmark, emigrated to the United States in 1854, and after
a short stay in New York City, came to Madison, Wisconsin. Mr. Sor-
ensen, the elder, was engaged in contracting and building operations in
that city until 1880, at which time he came to La Crosse, and the remain-
der of his life was spent in quiet retirement, his death occurring in 1895.
His widow survived him until 1909.

Ori Sorensen received his education in the public schools of Madison,
as well as a private school, which he attended until he was twenty years
of age, at that time associating himself with his fatlier and engaging in
contracting and building. In 1887 he formed a partnership with R. T.
Davis, under the firm style of Davis & Sorensen, and engaged in the man-
ufacture of office, store and bar fixtures, although he did not give up his
activities in the contracting line. The connection with Mr. Davies was
severed by mutual consent in 1897, and since that time ^Ir. Sorensen
has continued in business alone. His enterprise has enjoyed a steady
and rapidly growing trade, which comes from every part of the North-
west. A man of keen foresight, acumen and capacity, his associates
place the greatest confidence in his judgment, and at various times he
has been called upon for leadership where movements of an important
character have been contemplated.

While still a resident of ]\Iadison, in 1883, ^Ir. Sorensen was united
in marriage with Miss Eva B. Rounds, whose parents are both deceased,
and to this union there have been born three children: Clarence T., Ray
and Roy, the last two being twins. Mr. Sorensen is prominent in fra-
ternal circles of La Crosse, having risen to the thirty-second degree in
Masonry, and was formerly a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. In political matters he has always supported the
principles and policies of the Democratic party, whose candidate he
became, in' 1909, for the office of mayor of La Crosse. He was elected
to that office in the election of that year, and during his administration,
which lasted through 1909 and 1910, many greatly needed municipal
reforms were inaugurated. He Avas again elected for two years, 1913-
1914. Mr. Sorensen 's general popularity is attested by his wide circle
of friends, drawn from evei-y walk of life, who have been attracted to
him by his many sterling traits of character.

Harry B. Kamschulte. Through technical ability, marked initiative
and constructive power, close application and progressive policies
Mr. Kamschulte has gained definite prestige as one of the representa-
tive business men of the younger generation in his native city, and
not only is he known as one of the w^ell fortified ai'chitects and civil
engineers in IMihvaukee, but he also has tlie distinction of having

^JfiJ^^^^^JUtzr

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN U19

been the promoter and organizer of the Badger Railway & Light
Compauj^ Avhich controls an important intervirban electric line and
of which important corporation he is president. Mr. Kamschulte
maintains his business headquarters in suite 402-5 Foster building, on
Grand avenue, Milwaukee, and he and his family reside in an attract-
ive home in the beautiful little city of Wauwatosa, Milwaukee county,
which is about six miles distant from the metropolis of the state.

Mr. Kamschulte was born in Milwaukee, on the 25th of February,
1879, and is a son of Henry and Josephine (Mans) Kamschulte, w^ho
still reside in this city, where their marriage was solemnized and
where they have ever been held in the highest esteem, the father
being a native of Berlin, Germany, and the mother having been born
in Milwaukee, a representative of one of the honored pioneer families
of the state, to which her parents came from Germany many years
ago. Henry Kamschulte has lived virtually retired for a period of
about fifteen years past, but was long numbered among the successful
contractors and builders of Milwaukee, where he had the distinction
of serving for some time as city superintendent of building construc-
tion, — fully a quarter of a century ago. He is a man of sterling char-
acter and in the land and state of his adoption he gained definite
success and prosperity, so that he finds himself compassed by peace
and independence, as well as most gracious associations, now that
the days of his active labors have passed. He came with his parents
to America in 1856, when but four years of age, and was reared and
educated in Milwaukee, where the family home was established in
the year mentioned. He is a loyal and progressive citizen, is a Repub-
lican in his. political adherency.

Of the seven children, six are living, and thus death has but once
invaded the immediate family circle, the relations of which have
ever been of ideal order. Concerning the children, it may be stated
that all were born and reared in Milwaukee, Avhere they received
excellent educational advantages, the eldest two having been gradu-
ated in the high school and all of the others having not only com-
pleted a high-school curriculum but also having been graduated in
the German-English Aeademj^ of Milwaukee. Of the children the
subject of this review was the third in order of birth; Otto and
Clemens are still residents of Milwaukee ; Erla is the wife of Charles
Tucker, of Toledo, Ohio; Emma likewise maintains residence in To-
ledo ; Herbert is at the parental home ; and Hertha, the youngest of
the children, was summoned to the life eternal on the 25th of Octo-
ber, 1912; she was graduated in the Milwaukee Normal School and
was a young woman of gentle personality and marked culture, she
having been a valued and popular teacher in the public schools of
her native city during the last year of her life and her death having
been the result of an attack of pneumonia, to which she succumbed

1420 HISTORY OF WISCOXSIX

at the age of twenty years, eleven months and twenty-five days, se-
cure in the affectionate regard of all who knew her.

Harry B. Kamschulte continued to attend the public schools of
^Milwaukee until he had completed a course in the East Division high
school, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1895.
Thereafter he attended private schools in his home city and elsewhere,
and at the age of twenty years he began the study of the art and
science of architecture, in tJie office and under the preceptorship of
the well known Milwaukee firm of Schnetzy & Liebert, with whom
he remained two years, after w^hich he was for a time associated with
Ferd Velguth, a leading architect of this city. In the meanwhile
Mr. Kamschulte had also given careful study to civil engineering, in
which he developed marked practical ability, and finally he entered
the service of the Milwaukee Harvester Company, which was later
consolidated Avith the International Harvester Company of America.

In 1899 Mr. Kamschulte became associated with the Milwaukee
Electric Railway & Light Company, with which he continued in
effective service for twelve years, during the greater part of which
period he held the responsible office of chief engineer of construction.
It is needless to say that in this connection he gained large and valu-
able experience, and the same has proved of inestimable benefit to
him in his promotion and development of an important independent
enterprise along the same lines of public-utility service. In 1910
Mr. Kamschulte formed a partnership with Harold C. "Webster, under
the firm name of Kamschulte & Webster, and they engaged in inde-
pendent business as architects and civil engineers, with offices in the
Foster building. The success of the new firm w^as unequivocal and
the effective alliance continued until Mr. Webster was elected county
surveyor of Milwaukee county, of which position he is now the incum-
bent, specific mention of him being made on other pages of this work.
Aggressive, far-sighted and enterprising, Mr. Kamschulte instituted
in 1910 the promotion of a company for the construction of an inter-
urban electric line, and his efforts culminated in the organization of
the Badger Railway & Light Company, which was the first corpora-
tion of the kind to be incorporated under the Wisconsin public-utilities
act. The line of the company is now in construction and is thirty-
six miles in length. It extends from Jefferson, judicial center of the
county of the same name, through to Whitewater, Elkhorn and Lake
Geneva, and is a public improvement of the highest order, as well as
one that refiects great credit upon the promoter of the enterprise,
Mr. Kamschulte having shown marked circumspection and judgment
in instituting and carrying forward the undertaking, and having
been president of the company from the time of its organization.

As a citizen Mr. Kamschulte is essentially liberal and progressive.
As previously stated, he maintains his home at Wauwatosa, and there

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1421

he is giving loyal and effective service as a member of the board of
education, besides being otherwise influential in public affairs of a
local order. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and is well
known and distinctly popular in the business and social circles of his
native city. He finds his chief recreation in hunting and fishing and
in these lines is fully appreciative of the manifold attractions and
advantages of his home state.

May 7, 1907, recorded the marriage of Mr. Kamschulte to Miss
Margaret Zingsheim, who was born and reared in Milwaukee, where
she was graduated in the South Side high school and where still
reside her honored parents, Hubbard and Doris Zingsheim.

Judge Joseph E. Cordes. In 1910 Joseph E. Cordes was elected
Judge of the Civil Court of Milwaukee County in a non-partisan .judi-
cial election, in which he was, however, known and supported as a candi-
date of the Social Democratic part3^ He is still serving in that office, his
term expiring on January 1, 1916. His election to the .judgeship was
marked by the fact that he had the highest vote of the judges of the
different courts who ran for office at that time, and his administration
of the office thus far has been characterized by a wise and careful serv-
ice which places him among the most popular judges of his time in this
district.

Judge Cordes was born in ^lilwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 19.
1876, and is the son of Emil A. H. and Helena (Hennig) Cordes, both
of whom were born in this city. The father died when the subject was
a child of five years, and later the mother contracted a second marriage.
She still makes her home in ^Milwaukee. The grandfather of Judge
Cordes was one of the early wholesale grocers in this city, the firm being
known in its prosperous days as that of Cordes & Weiskireh. wholesale
grocers. Their early history dates as far back as the early sixties, when
they located on East Water street, and the father of Judge Cordes was
employed in the office of the establishment as a bookkeeper.

Judge Cordes is the eldest of the two living children of his parents,
the other being ]Mrs. Antoinette Kremer, now a widow and residing in
Milwaukee, where she was born and educated. Judge Cordes was edu-
cated in the Third Ward Public School of this city and was graduated
from that school with the class of 1890, after which he secured employ-
ment with the Standard Oil Company. His mother was then a widow
and he thus helped in the support of her and his sister. He continued
with the Standard people for some years, and in 1898 when the Spanish-
American trouble arose, Mr. Cordes. in company with many of his asso-
ciates, joined the local militia, in Company A of the Fourth Regiment
of the Wisconsin National Guards. The regiment was later taken in the
volunteer service of the United States, in Company I of the First Regi-
ment. Like many another zealous American patriot. Judge Cordes never

U22 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

got farther in the line of service than to reach Jacksonville, Florida,
there to await further orders. They remained there from May 21st
to September of that year, when they were ordered home. After the
return to home and civil life and duties, the subject resumed his connec-
tion with the Standard Oil Company, at the same time beginning the
study of law in a night class of the Milwaukee Law School, now a part
of Marquette College. He later took the state bar examination and was
duly admitted to practice on January 25, 1902, after which he continued
in the service of the great corporation for perhaps a year. He then re-
signed his position and became associated with the law firm of Gonski,
Blenski & Nowak, and later was a partner in law practice with Hon.
Michael Blenski, now judge of the civil court, which continued until
both were elected judges of the civil court of Milwaukee county in April,
1910.

Judge Cordes is a member of the Milwaukee County and the State
Bar Associations, and is a member of Walker Lodge, No. 123, Knights of
Pythias, and the United Order of Foresters.

On June 11, 1905, Judge Cordes married ]\Iiss Marie Salvesen, born
in Norway, but reared and educated in America, Milwaukee having been
her home from her girlhood. Her mother still lives in Milwaukee, but
the father died some years ago. Judge and Mrs. Cordes make their
home at No. 922 Twenty-second avenue.

Delos R. Moon. AVith the death of Delos R. Moon, of Eau Claire,
Wisconsin, there passed from among us one of those great captains of
industry of the middle west, who unlike so many to whom the term has
been applied, made his fortune and won his position of power, not
through squeezing the pennies from other people's pockets, or from
manipulating false values, but by foresight and judgment and a use of
the natural resources of the country. Delos R. IMoon Avas one of the
pioneer lumbermen of this section, and in taking advantage of the wealth
stored in the great forests of the country he brought prosperity to
hundreds of others, for he M^as just and considerate in all his business
dealings and the devotion of his employees w^as his reward. Not the
least successful of his undertakings was the rearing of his sons, for when
he was forced to lay down the reins, he had trained his sons so wisely
that he was able to hand the reins over to them, confident that the busi-
ness woiald not suffer.

Delos R. Moon was born in Chenango county. New York, on the
29th of August, 1835. He was deprived of a father's care early in life
but was fortunate in having a mother of unusual wisdom and strength
of character, who accomplished the task of rearing a fatherless boy with
rare discrimination. In 1843 the boy and his mother moved from New
York state to Kendall county, Illinois, and here they lived for two years,
at the end of which they again moved, this time to Aurora, Illinois,

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1423

where they settled permanently. Here Delos Moon grew up and here he
entered the business world. It was at the age of eighteen that he made
his first venture in this direction, entering the bank of Hall Brothers of
Aurora, as bookkeeper. Here he worked until 1857 and by this time he
had so far won the esteem and confidence of his employers that he was
selected by them to go to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to take charge of their
bank in that city. This bank had its securities in Missouri state bonds
and the outbreak of the Civil war caused these to depreciate so greatly
in value that they were practically worthless, and therefore, in 1861,
the bank was closed by the state comptroller.

Casting about for something to do, Mr. Moon decided that in the
great untouched northern forests was a field that suited him exactly
and so he went into lumbering. For six years he was engaged in buying
and selling timber lands, logs and lumber, and was also interested in a
general mercantile business. Always willing to work, a keen judge of
men, with a trained business intelligence, he was enabled to make quite
a bit of money, and being ambitious he saved his money with an eye to
its further investment. In 1867, therefore, he was ready to enter into
partnership with Gilbert E. Porter, as a manufacturer of lumber at Por-
ter's Mills, on the Chippewa River, about four miles below Eau Claire.
The lumber which they cut at the mill was rafted down the river to
the ]\Iississippi and so to the great markets. The two young partners
were alive to all the opportunities in the business and managed it along
progressive lines and instead of putting their profits into gilt-edged
securities they turned it back into the business and in 1869 established
a wholesale lumber yard at Hannibal, Missouri, and began the distribu-
tion of lumber from this point. In 1870 Porter and Moon consolidated
with S. T. McKnight, a prominent lumber dealer of Hannibal, and the
yard there was conducted under the name of S. T. IMcKnight & Com-
pany, though the business in Eau Claire remained independent, under
the firm name of Porter, Moon and Company. In 1873, however, the
two firms were completely merged into the Northwestern Lumber Com-
pany, of Eau Claire and Stanley, Wisconsin. In this new corporation
Mr. Porter was made president, Mr. Moon, vice-president and Mr. Mc-
Knight, secretary and treasurer.

The death of Mr. Porter in 1880 caused a change in the administra-
tion of the business, Mr. JMoon becoming president and general manager.
In 1882 the lumber yard in Hannibal was discontinued and during this
year the firm began to ship lumber by rail out of Eau Claire. Mr.
Moon remained as the chief executive of the company until his death,
and during this period the business flourished and grew amazingly. As
evidence of this witness the figures : In 1873 there were in the employ
of the concern seventy-eight men, drawing salaries amounting to $26,-
676 ; in 1897, one thousand two hundred and eighty-two men were em-
ployed and they received $373,000 and over. The capacity of the saw-

1424 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

mill was also greatly increased during this period, for in 1867, in round
numbers it was five million feet, while in 1897 it had reached one hun-
dred and eight million feet. Mr. Moon was ever the inspiration and the
guiding spirit of the business. Of unimpeachable integrity, of splendid
executive ability and with his long experience in men and affairs, his
unusual success was woven from the elements that made up his own
character.

How beloved he was by his friends, and in how high regard he
was held by his business associates and his opponents in the business
world was shown at the time of his death when his family were
almost overwhelmed with the evidences of love and admiration from
people they had never even heard of. He died on November 5,
1898, and the scores of men who had been in his employ for years
mourned for him as though for a father. At his funeral two hun-
dred employes from Stanley attended in a body and many men from
distant cities as well as hundreds from the various mills and factories
with which Mr. Moon had at one time or another been connected,
crowded the church to its utmost capacity. The Reverend Joseph
Moran, rector of Christ Episcopal Church, of Eau Claire, conducted
the services, and the honorary pall-bearers were Frederick ]\Ieyer-
haeuser, J. T. Barber, S. T. McKnight, William Irvin, Smith Rob-
ertson, I. K. Kerr, N. C. Wilcox and the Honorable M. Griffin.

The personal characteristics of Mr. Moon Avere of the finest and
made him a friend of everyone. In spite of the responsibilities of
his great business he was ever genial and kindly. A fighter by in-
stinct, with the courage that comes from contact with men under
the pine trees and in the open places, yet he was never one to take
an unfair advantage, — justice was the keynote of his business rela-
tions with all men. His home life was ideal and his devotion to his
wife was one of his most marked characteristics. On almost all of
his business trips and on all of those taken for pleasure merely she
was his companion. Mrs. Moon was Miss Sallie Oilman, of Harri-
son, Ohio, before her marriage to Mr. Moon, which took place on
the 17th of October, 1858, in Aurora, Illinois, ilrs. ]\Ioon was born
in New York State in 1836, and her death occurred in 1909. Eight
children were born of this marriage, six of whom are now living. Of
these, the eldest, Lawrence G., lives in Spokane, Washington; Frank
H. died in February, 1907, in San Jose, California; Kate died in
infancy; Angeline is the wife of Joseph G. Dudley, a lawyer of
Buffalo, New York ; Sumner G., who is vice-president and treasurer
of the Northwestern Lumber Company; Chester D., who is secretary of
the same company ; Pauline, who married Otto F. Haveisen. a banker of
Indianapolis, Indiana ; and Delos R. Moon, who is president of the Lin-
derman Box and Veneer Company of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1425

Sumner G. Moon. Among the most prominent of the younger men
in the lumber business in the state of Wisconsin today is Sumner G.
Moon, vice-president and treasurer of the Northwestern Lumber Com-
pany of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He has inherited his father's business
ability as well as the strong traits in his character that made him the suc-
cessful man of aftairs that he was. Sumner G. Moon is a splendidly edu-
cated, practical business man, possessed of a charming personality that
has won him many and warm friends both in the business world and in
social life.

Sumner G. Moon was born in Hannibal, Missouri, on the 25th of
December, 1871, a son of Delos R. Moon and Sallie (Oilman) Moon.
His father was one of the pioneer lumbermen of Wisconsin and a sketch
of his life is given elsewhere in this volume. There were eight children
born to Delos R. Moon and his wife, six of whom are now living.

The schools of Eau Claire furnished Sumner Moon with his earlier
education, and he later attended the Indianapolis Classical School at
Indianapolis, Indiana. His first position in the business world was
when, as a mere boy, he went to work for the Sterling Lumber Com-
pany, with which his father was associated. He was located at this time
at Sterling, AViseonsin, remaining there from July, 1891, until the spring
of 1893. He then came to Eau Claire and during the spring of 1893
and until the fall of 1894 he was in the employ of the Northwestern Lum-
ber Company at Eau Claire. Then leaving the lumber business for a
time he went east and entered Andover Academy, at Andover, IMassachu-
setts, from which he was graduated in 1895. He then entered the Shef-
field Scientific School of Yale University, where he took a three years
course, graduating with the class of 1898. He made a fine record as a
student and returned to his business, well equipped for the fight.

Upon his return he re-entered the ranks of the Northwestern Lum-
ber Company, being made secretary of the company. He held this posi-
tion until 1904 when he became vice-president and treasurer, a position
of which he is the present incumbent. -He became interested in the bank-
ing business a number of years ago and became vice-president of the
Bank of Eau Claire. In 1906 this bank was re-organized as the Union
National Bank, and Mr. Moon is at present one of the directors of this
institution.

He is one of the popular members of the Eau Claire Club and of
the Eau Claire Country Club. In polities he is a member of the Repub-
lican party and he belongs to Eau Claire Lodge, No. 402, of the Benev-
olent and Protective Order of Elks.

]\Ir. IMoon married Catherine Chamberlin on the 22nd of January,
1903. Mrs. ]\Ioon is a native of Eau Claire, and has lived praetieallj
all of her life here. They are the parents of two daughters, Lucy Ann
and Sallie Oilman.

1426 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Chester Delos Moon. The Moon family is well known througliout
the state of Wisconsin, for the father was one of the pioneer lumbermen
of this section of the country and his sons have shown the same business
ability that made the father so successful. Chester Delos Moon, secre-
tary of the Northwestern Lumber Company, is one of the best known
and most popular of the younger business men in the city. Chester
JMoon occupies the difficult position of being of the second generation,
that generation that is supposed to waste the fortune that the first gen-
eration has piled up. That he is not doing this, but instead is proving
a true son of his father is sufficient proof that he is possessed of a strong
character and clear head.

Chester Delos Moon is the son of Delos R. and Sallie (Gilman) ]\Ioon,
concerning whom mention is made in another part of this volume. He
was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on the 9th of July, 1874, the sixth
child of his parents. He had eight brothers and sisters, of whom six are
now living. He was sent as a young boy to the famous Shattuck School,
at Faribault, Minnesota, from which he was graduated in the class of
1893. He then entered the employ of the Northwestern Lumber Com-
pany for a time and later matriculated at Phillips Academy at Andover,
Massachusetts, from which he was graduated in 1896. Upon his return
to Eau Claire, he entered the employ of the Northwestern Lumber Com-
pany again, and in 1904 he became secretary of this company. He has
held this office since that time. He is interested in other business enter-
prises in Eau Claire, being a stockholder in the Union National Bank
and in the Union Savings Bank.

Mr. Moon is very popular in social circles in the city, and is a mem-
ber of a number of clubs, among them being the Eau Claire Country
Club, the Eau Claire Club, and the Eau Claire Auto Club. He is also
a member of the Eau Claire Lodge, No. 402, Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. In polities Mr. Moon is a member of the Republican
party.

On the 22nd of May, 1902, Mr.. Moon was married to Edith Bueklin,
of New York City. They have two children, Marjorie and Bueklin R.

Delos R. Moon, Jr. One of the younger members of the Moon fam-
ily, two generations of which have been prominentl.y identified with the
lumbering and manufacturing industries of northern Wisconsin since
pioneer time, Delos R. Moon, Jr., has inherited much of the ability and
talent of his late father, whose name he bears, and is now one of the best
known industrial leaders of the city of Eau Claire.

Delos R. Moon. Jr., the youngest child of Delos R. and Sallie (Gil-
man) Moon, was born at Dansville in Livingston county. New York,
August 29, 1879. The history and career of the senior Delos R. ]Moon,
as one of the foremost men of Eau Claire, are recited on other pages of
this work. Delos R. Jr., was educated in the Eau Claire public schools.

^^^^

2:^.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1427

after which he attended the Hillside Academy, Beloit Academy and the
Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts. With a good education,
and a cultural training better than that afforded most youths, he re-
turned to Wisconsin and entered the purchasing department of the
Northwestern Lumber Company of Eau Claire, a company of which his
father was then president. He continued with the company for a time,
and in 1901 became president of the Linderman Box and Veneer Com-
pany of Eau Claire, and as president has directed the destinies of this
concern to success and importance among the manufacturing enterprises
of the city. Mr. Moon is also a stockholder in the Union National Bank
of Eau Claire. He is a Republican in politics and is affiliated with Eau
Claire Lodge No. 402, B. P. 0. E.

On October 16, 1901, Delos R. Moon, Jr., married Miss Bertha E.
Dean, who was born at Rice Lake, Wisconsin, the second of six children
born to Charles H. and Laura (Allen) Dean. Both her parents were
natives of Massachusetts and are still living. The two daughters of Mr.
and Mrs. Moon are Elizabeth and Laura Dean.

Levia H. Bancroft. For twenty-five years Levia H. Bancroft has
been one of the notable political leaders and lawyers of Wisconsin.
He has enjoyed many honors culminating in his recent term as
attorney general of the state, and he has repeatedly justified his
preferment by a high quality of public service.

Born at Bear Creek in Sauk county, Wisconsin, December 26,
1860, Mr. Bancroft started life "with two advantages — he came of
good family stock, and he spent his youth in the wholesome environ-
ment of a farm. Up to the time he Avas fourteen he attended country
schools during the winter and worked on the farm in the open
seasons. On the removal of the family to Lone Rock in Richland
county, he began attending the town schools and also gained some
business experience as a clerk in a general store.

At the age of eighteen he qualified ^as teacher in a grammar
school, and two years later was appointed principal of the Lone Rock
high school, remaining in charge for one year. His ambition had
already been directed to the law, and entering the law department of
the University of Wisconsin he was graduated with the class of 1884.
His career as a lawyer began at Richland Center, and that is still his
home city and his associations have been chiefly with the bar of that
county.

In a practice extending over a period of twenty-eight years he
has met and mastered many adversaries, has given his legal ability
to causes of a humble nature, and in behalf of needful clients, as well
as to litigation involving large property rights, and has appeared as
counsel in many noted criminal eases. His work as a lawyer has been
performed not only in his home state, but he has tried cases in Illinois,

1428 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Michigan, New York, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa, and has ap-
peared in several weighty cases in the United States Supreme court.
His record included seven murder cases with five acquittals for his
clients.

As a Republican Mr. Bancroft took an interest in polities about as
soon as he could vote, and his first important honor in public life
came in 1888 with his election as district attorney of Richland county.
He also served as city attorney for six years, as city supervisor two
years, in 1897 was appointed to the office of county judge, and by
election in 1898 continued in office four years longer.

On the first of January, 1903, Mr. Bancroft was appointed first
assistant general attorney for the state of Wisconsin, and performed
the duties of this position for two years, at the end of which time
he resigned and engaged in general practice at Richland Center.
Elected in 1906, and reelected in 1908, Mr. Bancroft distinguished
himself for capable and efficient service during four years in the
general assembly and in 1909 was speaker of the house. Then in
November, 1910, the state electorate chose him for the office of attor-
ney general, and he retired from office at the beginning of 1913 with
a record of exceptional performance.

He has served as a delegate at all of the Republican state conven-
tions since 1892, and in the work of the party and on many public
occasions his aid has been considered indispensable. He was chair-
man of the state convention in 1902. In May, 1907, he was elected to
deliver the address and dedication of the Audersonville monument at
Anderson ville, Georgia. At the Seattle Exposition of 1910 he filled
the place of the Governor in delivering the Wisconsin address, and
was also a representative of this state at the dedication of the Vicks-
burg Memorial in 1911. Fraternally Mr. Bancroft has been affiliated
with Palestine Lodge, A. F. & A. M., at Lone Rock since 1881, and is
also a member of Richland Center Chapter, R. A. M. Another fact
of his career which deserves mention was his five years' identification
with the National Guards of the State of Wisconsin. On June 18,
1907, Governor Davison appointed him judge advocate of the Wis-
consin National Guards, Avith the rank of colonel, and he served until
January, 1913, Avhen he resigned, retiring to private life with the
rank of colonel.

Mr. Bancroft is a son of George R. and Helen (Randolph) Ban-
croft. His father was born in Schoharie county, New York, in 1834,
and his mother in Winnebago county. Illinois, in 1841. The parents
were married in Sauk county, Wisconsin, in 1859, and Levia H. was
the first of their seven children, of whom four are now living. George
I. Bancroft, the father, who has long been a substantial and influen-
tial citizen of Wisconsin, came to Sauk county in 1855, and as one
of the early settlers of that vicinity hewed a farm out of the Avilder-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1429

ness. In 1874 he moved to Lone Rock, Richland county, where he
was engaged in the general merchandise business up to 1902, at
which time he retired. A Republican, he has always performed his
share of public duties. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted, but
was rejected on account of physical infirmities, and Governor Harvey
then appointed him recruiting officer. For thirteen years he served
as supervisor of Bear Creek township in Sauk county, was a member
of the school board in that county and also in Richland county and
for several years was chairman of the Lone Rock high school board.
The original Bancroft ancestor was John, who came from England in
1640 and was a resident of Salem, Massachusetts. On the maternal
side Mr. Bancroft is Scotch. His grandfather, P. J. Randolph, a
blacksmith by trade, was one of the vigorous abolitionists, was a
forceful writer against slavery, and had the friendship of both
Phillips and Garrison. John Randolph of Virginia was his cousin.

Levia H. Bancroft was married June 11, 1890, to Miss Myrtle
DeLap, a native of Viroqua, Vernon county, Wisconsin. They are the
parents of two children, Carolyn and Blaine.

John I. Evans. A business man of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who has
been identified with this city for twenty-five years, Mr. Evans began his
career here as a subordinate employe in one of the large lumber firms,
and after a varied experience as traveling^ man, local superintendent and
in various other grades of service acquired a position of independence,
and for a number of years has been one of the leading business men of
this city.

John I. Evans was born in Oneida county, Ncav York, November 14,
1861, a son of Richard Evans. His mother died when he was a small
boy. The father, who was born in Wales, and whose death occurred in
1898, immigrated to America in 1856, bringing his wife and three chil-
dren, locating in Oneida county. New York, where he was engaged in
farming. During the last five years of his life he was retired. He was
a substantial citizen, and highly respected in his community, and one
of the active members of the Methodist church. There were eight chil-
dren in the family, John R. being the fifth, and three are still living.

Mr. Evans was reared in New York State, attending the district
schools of Oneida county, and subsequently fitting himself for a commer-
cial career by a course in the Eastman's Business College at Poughkeep-
sie, New York, where he graduated with the class of 1882. With this
preparation he came west to Milwaukee in the spring of 1882, and for
about one year worked as a clerk on the docks for the Sanger Rockwell
Company. He became connected with the lumber business as superin-
tendent of the yards for the C. J. Kershaw Lumber Company. From
that place he represented the Wisconsin Planing Mill Company in south-
western Kansas. For the North and South Lumber Company he was

1430 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

engaged in locating retail lumber yards and was superintendent of build-
ing construction for this company in Kansas for about three years.
Then in 1888 he returned to Wisconsin and located in Eau Claire, which
city has been his permanent residence now for a quarter of a centiiry.
Here he became superintendent for the Westville Lumber Company,
remaining in that connection for five years, and subsequently was super-
intendent of the Northwestern Lumber Company, until 1904. At that
date he engaged in independent enterprise as a retail lumber dealer.
In 1905 his enterprise was incorporated under the name of the Evans-
Lee Company, dealing in lumber, coal and w^ood. Mr. Evans is president
of the company, and is also connected with other local enterprises, being
a stockholder in the C. W. Cheeney Company in the grain elevator and
flour mills.

Fraternally Mr. Evans is affiliated with Eau Claire Lodge No. 112 A.
F. & A. M., Eau Claire Chapter No. 36, R. A. :\1.. Eau Claire Command-
ery No. 8, K. T., Wisconsin Consistory, Tripoli Temple of the Mystic
Shrine, and has thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite. In politics he is
a Republican. On February 20, 1887, Mr. Evans married IMiss IMary
Owens, who was born at New Hartford, in Oneida county, New York.

William Dexter Curtis. In the business, manufacturing and civic
progress of ^ladison no name has been more conspicuous than that of
Curtis, represented by father and son. The late Dexter Curtis was for
years a prominent figure both in this city and elsewhere, having been a
pioneer lumberman, a raiser of fine stock, and a manufacturer who
developed his own patents into a business of nation-wide proportions
and with branches in Europe.

The son, William Dexter Curtis, has succeeded to the large interests
of his father and by his own ability has identified himself with many
affairs in his home city. Mr. Curtis is the proprietor of the Dexter Cur-
tis Company, manufacturers, is the managing head of the Commercial
National Bank of IMadison, has served the city as mayor, and has many
influential relations with the business and civic enterprises of this city.

William Dexter Curtis ^vas born at Chicago, July 4, 1857, a son of
Dexter and Hannah (Brown) Curtis. The founder of this branch of the
family in America was Sardis Curtis, the great-grandfather of William
Dexter, this ancestor having come from England. The late Dexter Cur-
tis, whose death occurred in 1900, was born at Schenectady, New York,
September 8, 1820. His wife was born near Brattleboro, Vermont, in
1824, and died in 1877, their marriage having occurred in Vermont.
The three children are : Estella, the widow of James E. Baker : William
Dexter; and Franklin IL, who died on April 6, 1913.

The late Dexter Curtis was educated in the common schools of New
York state and New Hampshire, but his years with books were limited,
and at fourteen he began earning his way by getting out barrel staves

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1431

from the woods. In 1840, when about twenty years old, he came west
and located near Detroit, Michigan, at a place later known as Curtisville.
The lumber business was then at its height all over the state of Michi-
gan, and he engaged in that line at his first location, afterwards moved
to Van Buren county in the same state, and conducted a large enterprise
in lumbering and sawmilling. He finally traded his business for thir-
teen hundred acres of land in Dane county, Wisconsin, where he trans-
ferred his energies to farming and the raising of thoroughbred stock.
The production of fine stock was a favorite pursuit with him, and he
kept it up practically to the close of his life. For some time after his
removal to Wisconsin, be also conducted a large lumber and milling
industry at Memphis, Tennessee, and on selling that was engaged in a
general merchandise business at Sun Prairie in Dane county until 1870.

In 1870 he invented and patented what for more than forty years has
been known as the Curtis zinc horse-collar pad. This was an article
of more than ordinary utility, and through the enterprise of Dexter
Curtis became the basis for a large maniifacturing industry. He began
its manufacture at Buchanan, Michigan, where for some years his asso-
ciate was his old friend J. L. Richards, under the firm name of the Zinc
Collar Pad Company. After selling out his store at Sun Prairie, he
removed his factory for the manufacture of the collar pads and saddlery
specialties to ]\Iadison, and here the business has been developed to its
maximum proportions. To give the trade its fullest extension he estab-
lished a branch house at Birmingham, England, in 1872. Mr. Curtis
was also for a time in the drygoods business at Madison, and continued
to be actively associated with his manufacturing enterprise up to the
time of his death. He was elected a member of the legislature in 1884,
when the term was for one year, and also served in the city council. He
was affiliated with the Masonic order, and in politics yvas a Democrat.

William Dexter Curtis had during bis j^outh many of the advantages
which his father had lacked. He was given a first class education, attend-
ing first the schools at Sun Prairie, then the State Normal at White-
water, and for three years was a student in the Highland IMilitary
Academy at Worcester, Massachusetts. After finishing at this school
he declined an appointment to West Point, offered by President Grant,
and turned his attention to business.

In 1881 he became connected with the wholesale house of the John Y.
Farwell drygoods company of Chicago, and rose to important responsi-
bilities during the fifteen years he spent with this noted firm. He was
finally given the work of making settlements with unsuccessful or bank-
rupt firms to which the Farwell Company Avere creditors. In this capac-
ity he took charge of a drygoods house at Wichita. Kansas, with an
indebtedness of $47,500, and in twelve months put the business on a pay-
ing basis and gave the creditors a hundred cents on the dollar. In this
way he adjusted many other accounts for his company.

1432 IIISTOKV OF WISCONSIN

In 1896, owing to his father 's failing health, IMr. Curtis came to Mad-
ison and took full charge of the maufacturing business. He continued
to manage it for the estate until he acquired the interests of the other
heirs, and has since been sole owner but conducts the business under the
old name of Dexter Curtis Company. In addition to the factory in
England, established by his father, he maintains a sales agency at Troys,
France.

Mr. Curtis was one of the organizers of the Commercial National
Bank of Madison on January 10, 1908, and served as director to April,
1909.

In April, 1909, he took up the burden of vice-president and manager
of the Commercial National Bank, which office he held until July 1st,
1913. During this period of four years the deposits increased from
three hundred thousand to one million dollars. He resigned as vice
president and manager of the bank on account of poor health. He is
also a director in the Savings Loan & Trust Company of Madison ; vice
president of the L. L. Oldes Seed Company of Madison; vice president
of the T. S. Morris Company, and president of the Madison Square Real
Estate Company. He owns a large amount of property in the city of
Madison and elsewhere.

In April, 1904, the citizens of Madison chose Mr. Curtis as mayor
of the city, there being no opposition to his candidacy, and after the
first term of two years he was offered re-election, but declined the honor.
For five years he was a director of the Madison Park & Pleasure Driving
Association. He is affiliated with Hiram Lodge No. 5, A. F. & A. M.,
and politically is independent.

Mr. Curtis was married in Chicago, in May, 1888, to Miss Mamie
Celesta Clark, daughter of Louis Clai-k. Mr. Curtis and wife became
the parents of four children: William Dexter, Jr., who is manager and
superintendent of the Dexter Curtis Company, and who married Wini-
fred Willis; Irene May, Tobin S. and Alice Brown Curtis. Mrs.
W. D. Curtis died January 10, 1913. She had taken a prominent part
in the civic and religious work of the city and was widely esteemed and
respected. Her great energies in philanthropic circles had also elicited
much admiration, and her demise has occasioned widespread regret.

Judge Robert G. Siebeckbr, Justice of the Supreme Court of the
State of Wisconsin, whose brief memoir is given in the following pages,
is well known to the bar and bench of the State, as a careful, pains-
taking, conscientious and profound lawyer, a thorough scholar, and a
jurist who has always maintained the dignity of his exalted position.
His career has been a striking example, in the upward strides of per-
sonal ftierit, of the distinction that may be achieved through conscien-
tious performance of duty, and of the honors bestowed upon those who
are willing to give more to the public service than they have taken from

HISTOEY OF WISCONSIN 1433

it. Judge Siebecker was born in Sauk county, Wisconsin, October 17,
1854, and is a son of William H. and Christina (Grof ) Siebecker, natives
of Germany.

The parents of Judge Siebecker came to the United States in 1851,
landing at New York City, and on October 1st of that year arrived in
Sauk county, Wisconsin. William H. Siebecker was a farmer by voca-
tion, and a man who reflected all the sturdy traits of his countrymen.
He was successful in his agricultural operations, in which he was en-
gaged until his retirement in 1888, and was no less prominent in the
work of the German Independent Lutheran Church, donating the land
for, and assisting in the erection of, the church structure near his home.
This same society, which in no small degree owes its existence to his
earnest and disinterested personal efforts, is still being maintained.
Having come to this country on account of his liberal political views,
he held independent opinions throughout his life. He died August 16,
1900, in his eighty-second year, and his wife passed away April 13, 1876,
when she was fifty-six years of age. They had ten children, of whom
five were born in Germany, Robert G. being the first to be born in this
country.

Robert G. Siebecker received his early education in the district
schools of Sauk county, while working on his father's farm, and subse-
quently attended a Madison private academy, after leaving which he
took up and completed a four years' course in arts and science in
1878 with the degree of B. S. in the University of Wisconsin. He there-
after completed the law course of the TJniversity, receiving his degree in
June, 1880. He had been admitted to the bar by the State Board of
Examiners in 1879, and on October 4th of that year began the practice
of his profession in partnership with Charles H. Dudley. This con-
nection continued until September, 1881, when he became associated
in practice with his brother-in-law, Robert M. LaFollette, now United
States Senator, and the firm of LaFollette & Siebecker continued to
carry on a large professional business until January 7, 1890, when Mr.
Siebecker became Circuit Judge. In April, 1903, he was elected Justice
of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, and still remains an incumbent of
this high office. The life and public services of Judge Siebecker con-
stitute the best refutation of the theory that long service by a public
servant is necessarily detrimental to public interests. In every capacity
in which he has served the public he has increased his value by studying
his duties, thus becoming of the greatest service to the people and to the
State. In his earlier years he was a Democrat, but in 1893 his views
on the subject of Free Trade caused him to transfer his allegiance to
the Republican party. From 1886 to 1890 he served as city attorney of
Madison. He was one of the organizers of the Madison Benevolent So-
ciety, being a member of the board for twenty-three years, when it was
reorganized as the Associate Charity and of which he is also a member

1434 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

of the board. Fraternally Judge Siebecker is connected with JMadison
Lodge, No. 5, A. F. & A. j\I.; Madison Chapter, R. A. M., and Robert
McCoy Commandery, K. T. He supports the various movements of the
Unitarian Church, and has always co-operated with other earnest and
hard-working citizens in advancing the cause of religion, morality
and education.

On May 15, 1878, Judge Siebecker was married to Miss Josephine
LaFollette, who was born at Primrose, Dane count}-, Wisconsin, daugh-
ter of Josiah and Mary (Ferguson) LaFollette, and sister of United
States Senator Robert M. LaFollette. Three children have been born
to this union, namely: Carl L., Robert L. and Lee L. Judge Siebecker
and his family reside at Xo. 133 East Gorham street.

WiLLiAiE A. Devine. The public service as a career is seldom
realized in America owing to the vicissitudes of our political adminis-
tration. What it might be has been well exeniplitied in the case of Wil-
liam A. Devine, the present postmaster at Madison. ^Ir. Devine has
been identified with the postal service of this city for more than a
quarter of a century. Starting as a carrier, he passed through the
various grades in the regular civil service, and in 1911 was properly
rewarded with promotion by President Taft to the executive control
of the office.

Mr. Devine was born in ^Madison, December 25, 1863, a son of John
and Anna (Cass) Devine. His father, a native of county Limerick,
Ireland, died April 11, 1875. The mother, a native of county Tipperary,
Ireland, is living at the age of seventy-one. The parents were married
in ^ladison, and of their five children three are living, William A. the
oldest. The father was a boy when his family emigrated to America
and located on a farm in Dane county, Wisconsin, where they were pion-
eers. After reaching manhood he began his career as a farmer, but later
moved into Madison, where he was a federal employe until his death.
Avhich occurred when he was still a young man. In politics he was a
Democrat, and was a member of the Catholic faith.

Mr. Devine received his early education in the parochial schools
of Madison, but the death of his father when he was a boy of twelve
threw him early into the serious business of life. His first regular wages
were from work in the printing office of the Madison Democrat. He
was then employed by the old IMilwaukee & St. Paul Railroad (now
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul) on construction work on the IMil-
waukee and Prairie du Chien division, and later ni the car repairing
department.

On the 1st of June, 1886, he became a letter carrier with the Madison
postoffiee. Several months later, on October 1st, he was made super-
intendent of carriers. June 1, 1891, he was placed in charge of the
money order department, and on June 1, 1899, became assistant post-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1435

m.aster, the highest position obtainable under the classified civil service.
Then on January 9, 1911, President Taft commissioned him postmaster.
^Ir. Devine was one of the organizers and the first president of the As-
sistant Postmasters Association of Wisconsin and he served as secretary
and treasurer of the Wisconsin Postmasters Association for two years,
and was elected president of the above association on September 8th,
1913. He served as secretary of the Civil Service Board for eleven
years, is a member of the Madison Board of Commerce, and is one of
the liberal and public spirited men of his city, liberal to a fault with
his friends but conscientious with himself.

I\Ir. William A. Devine was married September 26. 1894, to Miss
IMartha Dowling, who is also a native of IMadison. Their home circle
.comprises three children, Margaret, Katherine and Mary.

Fraternally he is affiliated with the Madisoa Council No. 531,
Knights of Columbus, and has served two years as district deputy and
four years was secretary of the fourth degree assembly. He is also
a member of the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin. He has twice held the
post of exalted ruler in Madison Lodge No. 410, B. P. 0. E. Mr. Devine
is a communicant of the Catholic church, and his politics are Democratic.

William F. Vilas. Each state in the Union has a few men whom
she can call great ; it may be that they are great only in a local sense,
but they are her great men; then it is given to a few states to claim as
her sons, men who are in a truer sense men of the nation, for their great-
ness is a greatness that cannot be confined within the limits of a state.
Of the latter class was the late William F. Vilas, honored and beloved
throughout the state and nation during liis lifetime; held in tender
memory now that he has gone from among us. No truer words of him
can be written than those spoken by the Honorable James G. Jenkins,
in his Memorial Address : "In all positions to which he was called, in
all the work which he undertook, he applied himself to the discharge of
duty with an energy which knew no flagging, mth a devotion which
knew no turning, sparing neither himself nor others that faith might be
kept and duty performed. This characteristic runs through all his
life and illuminates all his work. He was, it is true, ambitious; but it
was the noble ambition to excel. He desired place and power, not from
sordid motive, but for the opportunities they offered for usefulness.
He sought to aid his kind by teaching them and helping them to help
themselves. He recognized the truth that indiscriminate charity is
hurtful both to the giver and to the receiver, and that that is true char-
ity which aids to build up independence of character and self-reliance.
With wise statesmanship, he saw that the best remedy for the ills of
government, the true safeguard from the evils of passion and preju-
dice, the sure foundation for manly independence of character and good
citizenship, the anchor which can hold the ship of state in the storms

1436 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

which beset her, the main essential of success for the individual, is edu-
cation." A soldier, an orator, a statesman, and in each role, thinking
first of his country and her people and lastly of himself — such was
"William F. Vilas, and the bare outline of his life which follows can
give no true idea of the real greatness of the man.

"William Freeman Vilas was born on the 9th of July, 1840, at Chel-
sea, Vermont. His father was Levi Baker Vilas and his mother was
Esther Green Smilie. When the boy was eleven years old his parents
came to the west, arriving in Madison, Wisconsin on the 5th of June,
1851. His early education had been well cared for, and he was unusu-
ally young when he entered the University of Wisconsin. He was a
brilliant student, and his college career was a fair example of what his
life in a larger sphere was to be, for he was a leader, a student who
exerted a strong influence, and a man whose words even at this age
were well worth listening to. He was especially active and interested
in the Hesperian Society, and here it was that he received a valuable
training in oratory, and first learned how an audience would respond
to his words. He was graduated from the university in 1858, not quite
eighteen years of age. He then took up the study of law at the Albany
Law School, New York, from which institution he was graduated in
1860, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.

Returning to his home city, he formed his first partnership on the
date of his twentieth birthday, and took up the practice of his profes-
sion here in Madison. During the next year he received the degree of
Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin, and in 1885, he was
given the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, from his, his alma mater.
He had scarcely opened his office, and prepared for work at his beloved
profession, when he began to feel that his country needed his services
and that in spite of the desire to go on with the work he so dearly
loved the sacrifice was one which he ought to make. He therefore
offered his services as a soldier, and was made captain of Company A,
Twenty-third Regiment of the Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and in
August, 1862, he found himself with the Army of the Tennessee, under
the command of General Grant. In February, 1863, he received a pro-
motion to the rank of major, and further distinguished himself to the
extent that in the following month he was made lieutenant-colonel.
The officer next higher in command, being absent during the battles
around Vicksburg, and during the siege and capitulation of the city,
it fell to Colonel Vilas to lead his regiment during these days of trial
and not one of the soldiers who are now left but remembers and re-
calls with pride the picture of their brave young, twenty-two year old
colonel, as he rode before them through those terrible days. After the
fall of Vicksburg, when the western part of the Confederacy was clear-
ly conquered. Colonel Vilas felt that he should be at home attending to
very pressing business affairs, and so resigning his command, he re-

HISTOEY OF WISCONSIN 1437

turned to Madison, and in August, 1863, he was once more deep in his
professional work.

He was soon recognized as a lawyer of far more than the ordinary
ability, and the University of Wisconsin honored him by offering him a
chair as professor of law. He accepted this in 1868, but at the same
time, by dint of working with almost superhuman energy, he was able
to continue with his private practice, which was increasing all the
time. He held this professorship from 1868 to 1885, and during this
period many other honors and duties were placed upon his shoulders.
From 1875 to 1878 he was engaged in company with others in a revision
of the statutes of the state. In 1874 he v/as made a trustee of the Wis-
consin Soldiers' Orphans Home, and gave a great deal of his attention
to this work, for he felt very near to all who were his comrades in the
great struggle, and he held this position until 1893. He was made a
regent of the university, in 1881, in recognition of the deep interest
which he took in educational matters, and because the university felt
the need of a strong man such as he, in its governing body. He held
this office until 1885, when duties of a pressing nature demanded his
absence from Madison.

In 1884 came Mr. Vilas' first active participation in politics in such
a way that he was brought before the notice of the nation, although he
had always been prominent in the political interests of his party in
the state. This was when he was elected permanent chairman of the
Democratic national convention, which was held in Chicago. When
Grover Cleveland was nominated for the presidency on that memor-
able occasion, he was chosen as chairman of the committee, which was
appointed to notify the candidate of his nomination. On this occa-
sion he made a notable address, which though brief, attracted attention
by its simple forcefulness. The campaign that followed will be long
remembered, and during this time. Colonel Vilas was elected as a mem-
ber of the legislature, the first office to which he had been elected by
the will of the people. When the Cleveland cabinet was organized,
the new president showed his appreciation of the services which Colonel
Vilas had rendered to the party, and of the intrinsic strength of the
man, by appointing him Postmaster General. He served in this office
from 1885 until 1888, when he was appointed Secretary of the Inte-
rior, to succeed Secretary Lamar, who had become a Justice of the Su-
preme Court. In both of these posts of high honor. Colonel Vilas proved
his strength. The chief reason for the Democratic victory in 1884 had
been the belief that Cleveland would carry out some much needed re-
forms in the administrative service and that civil service reforms in
particular would be advanced, therefore, the work of a cabinet was
extremely heavy, more so than would ordinarily occur with a change
of administration. Colonel Vilas was one of the powers of the admin-
istration, a man to be relied upon in every emergency, whose broad

1438 HISTORY OP AVISCONSIN

knowledge of conditions throughout the country, and whose progressive
ideas could not but be of supreme value to the administration of the
affairs of the nation. At the close of the Cleveland administration he
again look up his law practice in Madison. So confident were the peo-
ple in his ability, and so firmly did they trust him to stand for them,
that he was not long permitted to remain at home, but in 1891 was sent
to Washington as a United States senator. He served in the Senate
for eight years, or until 1897. During these years he was growing
more deeply into the hearts of his people and his services were now
demanded in his home state.

Before his term of office in the Senate was complete, he was ap-
pointed a member of the State Historical Library Building Commis-
sion, and to the work of this commission he devoted much time and
thought, serving until 1906, when the splendid structure w'hich now
houses the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, w^as completed. It
was at about this time that the" university again demanded his time
and the greater knowledge which he had gained during his years of
experience in administrating the country's affairs, and appointed him
Regent. He served his alma mater thus until 1905, his regency be-
ginning in 1898. In 1898 he was also elected vice-president of the
State Historical Society, and in 1906 he was made a member of the
Wisconsin Capitol Building Commission, and in both of these positions
he gave loyal service until his death. It was especially in the latter
work that the energies of his last years were devoted, and the beautiful
capitol building stands as a monument to his labors, as to those of no
other man. He also served as a member of the Wisconsin Vicksburg
Park Monument Commission, and while serving in this office, he wrote
"A View of the Vicksburg Campaign," which was published by the
Wisconsin History Commission, in October, 1908, and is one of the
clearest and most interesting reports of that famous campaign that
has ever been put into print.

Colonel Vilas was too busy a man to have much time for recreation,
but he was a well read and well traveled man in spite of his lack of
spare moments. Of his three trips to Europe, not one w-as of any
length, yet he brought back more than many a man who has spent years
there. His real recreation, however, was found in using his powers as
an orator. A most interesting volume of his addresses has been com-
l^iled by his wife and these addresses, unlike so many, do not need the
magnetism of their author's pei-sonality, or the fire of his voice, to make
them interesting. They are full of thought and are not mere words, as
are so many oratorical efforts that have power to sw-eep people off their
feet. As an ardent member of the Democratic party, he spent many
hours speaking in behalf of its candidates, but it Avas not in the politi-
cal field that his oratorical honors were won. He was called upon to
deliver addresses before such associations as the Societv of the Armv

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1439

of the Teuiiessee, and before various organizations of the University
of Wisconsin, and before many other groups of brilliant and influen-
tial men. As a member of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee,
he was always willing to talk in its behalf and at the meeting of the
Society in 1877 he was selected to deliver the oration at the next meet-
ing of the veterans. His success on this occasion was so marked that
he was unanimously elected to deliver the response to the toast, Our
First Commander, at the banquet given by the Society at the Palmer
_IIouse, in Chicago, in honor of General Grant, upon his return from
his trip around the world. His effort on this occasion was most remark-
able and caused tumultuous enthusiasm. As an extract from the pro-
ceedings of the society describes the scene: "It would be difficult to
fully portray the scene following the conclusion of Colonel Vilas' re-
sponse. The entire banquet party rose to its feet, and the hall re-
sounded with cheer upon cheer, and each individual seemed to contest
with marks of appreciation, till Colonel Vilas was compelled to again
rise, standing in his chair, while hearty cheers were given. Rarely
has such eloquence been observed and never in the history of our So-
ciety.

Here maj^ be inserted a letter from a man whom America has
learned to honor and whose appreciation of Colonel Vilas was deep and
sincere.

Stormfield, Redding, Connecticut, October 13, 1909.
Dear Mrs. Vilas:

I thank you so much for the Memorial, which I have read with the
deepest interest. I had a warm place in my heart for Colonel Vilas,
and a great admiration for his lofty gifts and character. I can still
vividly see him, as I saw him twenty years ago, lacking a month, at the
Grant banquet in Chicago, as he stood upon a table, with his lips clos-
ing upon the last word of his magnificent speech, and his happy eyes
looking out in contentment over a sea of applauding soldiers glimpsed
through a frantic storm of waving napkins — a great picture, and one
which will never grow dim in my memory.

I thank you again, dear madam.

Sincerely yours,

(Signed) S. L. Clemens.

P. S. No, it was thirty years ago.

AVhoever has not read this speech would do well to read it and then
turn to an address that he made before the Society of the Army of the
Tennessee, in 1878. In these two speeches he may find that spirit that
animated the souls of those men of 1861, whether they wore the blue
or the gray.

Colonel Vilas was married in 1866, to Miss Anna 'SI. Fox, a daugh-
ter of Dr. William H. Fox, of Fitehburg, Wisconsin. They made their

1440 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

lirst home in Madison in a beautiful grove of oaks a few miles south
ol" the city, and here in the quiet and peace of an ideal home life, the
young lawyer gathered strength for the days when he was to be thrust
out in the full glare of public life, with the battles of a great nation on
his hands. In 1879, he moved into the city, and in the beautiful home
.at the corner of Oilman street and Wisconsin avenue, facing the waters
of Lake Mendota, he passed the remainder of his life. His death came
on the 27th of August, 1908.

In November, 1912, Mrs. Vilas, with her daughter, Mrs. Lucien M.
Hanks, erected, by the request of the National Park Commissioners, a
large bronze statue of Colonel Vilas on the breast works of the battle-
field at Vieksburg, Tenn. At this place the colonel led his regiment,
the Twenty-third Wisconsin Infantry, in 1863 during the battles around
Vieksburg.

Of the four children born to Colonel Vilas and his wife, only one
is now living. She is Mary Esther, the wife of Lucien M, Hanks,
and with their three children, William Vilas, Sybil Anna and Lucien
Mason, Mr. and Mrs. Hanks live not far from the old home, where the
mother and grandmother still live.

Lewis D. Plumer. Now representing the Phillips Lumber Com-
pany as one of its aggressive salesmen, Mr. Plumer has had a long
and successful experience in the lumber business. When a boy he
started out in Buffalo, New York, in the capacity of "tally boy," and
about thirty years ago came to Wisconsin, and has been employed in
nearly every relation and work connected with the business.

Lewis Daniel Plumer was born in Buffalo, New York, June 1,
1866. His boyhood was spent in that city, and his attendance at the
public schools was continued only until he was about twelve and a half
years of age. The firai of Holland-Graves then took him in as tally boy
in their lumber yard, and with that firm he had an experience continu-
ing for eight years. The firm advanced him from one responsibility to
another, and finally sent him out to Marinette, Wisconsin, and during
1885-86, he w^orked in scaling lumber. The 3'ear 1887-88 was spent in
Canada, overseeing the estimating and shipping of lumber. During the
winter of 1888-89, I\Ir. Plumer worked in the woods for Isaac Stephen-
son. In 1890 Pearly Law employed his services in shipping lumber
at Marinette and Peshtigo. The summer of the same year was spent
in shipping and estimating for the firm of Hamilton and IMerriman of
Marinette. Following that he was employed by Judge Cochran of
Ashland in grading lumber, and then returned to Buffalo for the Mont-
gomery Door & Box Company. In 1892 Mr. Plumer entered the
employ of the Edward Hines Lumber Company of Chicago. He went
into the yards, and by his practical abilitj' in all departments of lumber-
ing was quickly advanced and sent on the road as a salesman. For

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN U41

four years he traveled over territory in Pennsylvania, New York,
Ohio. Virginia, and West Virginia. Following this experience on the road,
he was placed in charge as superintendent of the mill at Iron river,
and remained there until 1903. His next work was as manager of the
mill at Park Falls. In April, 1913, Mr. Plumer came to Phillips and
became identified with the Phillips Lumber Company as traveling sales-
man.

For three years Mr. Plumer was president of the County Fair Asso-
ciation at Bayfield, Wisconsin. He was married May 8, 1897, to Mar-
garet Golley. His politics is Republican and his church is the Catholic.

Daniel K. Tenney. It is always most gratifying to the biographist
and student of human nature to come in close touch with the history of
a man who, in the face of almost insurmountable obstacles, has plodded
persistently on and eventually, through his determination and energy,
made of success not an accident but a logical result. Daniel Kent Ten-
ney, who is now living virtually retired at ]\Iadison, Wisconsin, is strict-
ly a self-made man and as such a perusal of his career offers both lesson
and incentive. For many years he was eminently successful as an
attorney of recognized ability in Chicago, Illinois, where he figured
prominently in numerous litigations connected with commercial law.

Daniel Kent Tenney was born in Plattsburg, New York. December
31, 1834, and he is a son of Daniel Tenney, a Universalist clergyman,
who preached for many years in northern Ohio. The founder of the
Tenney family in America was an Englishman who came from England
and settled in Massachusetts Bay colony in 1620. His descendants have
figured conspicuously in the public affairs of their respective commun-
ities and have won renown in the various professions. Rev. Daniel
Tenney married Sylvia Kent, a cousin of the great Chancellor Kent
of the state of New York. This union was prolific of ten children, of
whom the subject of this review is the only survivor, in 1912.

At the age of two years Mr. Tenney, of this notice, accompanied
his parents from New York to northern Ohio and at the age of five
years he began to attend school. When he had reached his eighth year
he entered upon an apprenticeship to learn the trade of printer in the
newspaper office of his brother. Major H. A. Tenney, at Elyria, Ohio,
and he was identified with this line of work off and on for eight years.
In 1849, at the age of fifteen years, he came to Madison, Wisconsin, to
attend the state university which was organized about that time. By
working at his trade during vacations and on Saturdays he managed
to earn the money with which to defray his college expenses. He was
a student in the university for four years and at the expiration of that
period again turned his attention to printing. For one year he was
foreman of the Wisconsin State Journal printing office but having de-
cided upon the legal profession as his lifework he began his legal
studies in the office of H. W. Tenney at Portage, Wisconsin. In 1855

1442 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

he was appointed deputy clerk of the circuit court of Dane county and
during his incumbency of that position he kept up his legal studies.
December 11, 1855, at the age of twenty-one years, he was admitted
to the AVisconsin bar and he initiated the active practice of his profession
at Madison as a partner of his brother, who, two years later, gave up law
work. Mr. Tenney then entered into a partnership alliance with Charles.
T. Wakeley and in 1860 he became junior member of the law firm of
H. W. & D. K. Tenney. During the ensuing ten years the latter firm
enjoyed a large and lucrative practice in Dane county but Daniel K.
Tenney, being anxious for a more extensive field for his professional
work, removed, in 1870, to Chicago, where he became associated with
some of the most prominent professional men of Illinois. He devoted
his attention principally to commercial law and therein won unqualified
success. An orator of power, a keen lawyer, and withal a stvident of
men possessing a rare insight into their natures, Mr. Tenney was, in-
deed, a man of fine legal ability. His record at the Illinois and Wiscon-
sin bars and the honors which have been bestowed upon him stand
proof of his Avorth. He retired from active participation in professional
work in 1898 and since then has resided in Madison.

In 1857 Mr. Tenney was united in marriage to Miss jNIary Jane
Marston, the ceremony having been performed at Madison. ]\Irs. Ten-
ney was born in Montpelier, Vermont, and she was summoned to the
life eternal in the year 1907. "Sir. and Mrs. Tenney became the parents
of two children : John M., who was engaged in business at Seattle,
Washington, but lost his life by accident ; and Mary Sylvia, a resident
of Winnetka. Illinois.

In early life Mr. Tenney was a stalwart Democrat but after the
organization of the Republican party he has supported its principles.
Although frequently urged to run for public office, including that
*of congressman, he has refused to do so, preferring to give his undivided
time and attention to law work. He has always been a Free Thinker
and has contributed a great deal of worthy literatiire on that subject.

Henry L. Levy. In the death of Henry L. Levy, on the 26th of
May, 1907, the beautiful little city of Eau Claire, judicial center of the
county of the same name, lost one of its most honored and valued citizens
and one whose name had been closely and worthily connected with the
development and upbuilding of the city, Eau Claire having represented
his home during virtually his entire life. ]\Ir. Levy was a scion of a
well known pioneer family of Wisconsin and he developed to the fullest
extent his admirable powers as a man of affairs and as a progressive
and public-spirited citizen, the while his pleasing personality and im-
pregnable integrity of purpose gained to him the confidence and high
regard of those with whom he came in contact in the various relations
of life. By his character and achievement he honored his native state

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1443

and consistency is conserved when a tribute to liis memory is incor-
porated in this publication.

Henry L. Levy was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 5th day
of May, 1864, and thus was in the very prime of strong and noble man-
hood when he was summoned from the stage of life's mortal endeavors.
His venerable father, Mr. Louis Levy, still resides at Eau Claire. In
1870 Louis Levy removed with his family from IMilwaukee to Eau
Claire, where he engaged in the mercantile business. He always has
been numbered among the leading business men of Eau Claire and
contributed in generous measure to the civic and material development
of the fair little city in which he still maintains his home and is held
in unqualified esteem.

Henry L. Levy was afforded the advantages of the public schools
of Eau Claire, where he early gained practical experience in connection
with his father's business operations. He eventually entered into
partnership with his honored father, and they built up a large and pros-
perous enterprise, the same having been principally in the handling of
men's clothing and furnishing goods and the father and son having
gained recognition as among the foremost merchants of the Chippewa
valley, where the name of Levy has ever stood exponent of fair and
honorable dealings and absolute reliability. As a young man Henry
L. Levy returned to Milwaukee, where he was identified with business
activities until the time of his marriage. Shortly after this important
event in his career he returned to Eau Claire, where he engaged in
business with his father, their well equipped establishment being known
as the People's Clothing Store. With the passing years the subject of
this memoir expanded his field of endeavor and he became one of the
leading men of affairs in his section of the state, with large and im-
portant capitalistic interests of varied order. He was a member of the
directorate of the Eau Claire National Bank at the time of his death, as
was he also of the Eau Claire Savings Bank, and he was a stockholder
of the Eau Claire Grocery Company, engaged in the wholesale trade.
Toward the end of his remarkable career he acquired extensive interests
in timber lands in northern Wisconsin and in the western states, and
it has been consistently said that he displayed business ability far be-
yond the average, his estate' at the time of his demise having been esti-
mated at several hundred thousands of dollars, besides which he mani-
fested his implicit appreciation of the consistency and value of life-
insurance indemnity. Concerning this noble and honored citizen the
following well .justified statements have been made, and the same are
worthy of perpetuation in this connection :""]Mr. Levy was in an eminent
degree a man of public spirit, and for many years prior to his death
he had given his effective co-operation in connection with enterprises
and measures projected for the general good of his home city. He was
the soul of generosity and kindliness and his benefactions were in-

3 444 lllSTOHV OF WISCONSIN

variably made with discrimination and judgment. He extended a
helping hand and made the same evident not less in counsel than in
timely financial assistance. Aside from his aid to numerous charities
of organized order his personal benevolences were large and were known
only to himself and the recipients. He materially assisted a number of
deserving boys in procuring local and universitj^ educations, and he
■was a valued counselor in connection with business affairs, as his many
friends had unwavering faith in him and in^his judgment."

]\Ir. Levy always manifested a loyal interest in public affairs, both
general and local. He represented a positive and benignant force in
civic and business activities of Eau Claire, and in all the relations of
life he accounted well to himself and the world, so that his memory
shall long be cherished in the city where he lived for many years and
his circle of friends was practically unlimited. He was an influential
and valued member of the Eau Claire Commercial Club, and in his
home city was affiliated wdth the lodges of the Benevolent & Protective
Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, and the Order of B'Nai B'Rith.
His sudden death was deeply deplored in the community which he did
much to advance in social and material prosperity, and his funeral serv-
ices were held in the city of Milwaukee, where interment was made in
the family lot in beautiful Spring Hill cemetery.

As a young man Mr. Levy was united in marriage, in Milwaukee,
to Miss Bertha Docter, and she survives him, still retaining her home
in Eau Claire. Of the three children the eldest is Pearl Evelyn, who
is now the wife of Albert M. Newald, of Milwaukee, concerning whom
specific mention is made on other pages of this work; Malvin and Irene
remain with their widowed mother at the beautiful family homestead
in Eau Claire.

Charles E. Kremer. A native son of Wisconsin and a scion of one
of the sterling pioneer families of this commonwealth, Mr. Kremer is
well entitled to recognition in this publication, though he is not a resi-
dent of the state but is found numbered among the representative mem-
bers of the bar of Chicago, the great metropolis of the west.

Charles Eduard Kremer was born in the city of Oshkosh, Winne-
bago county, Wisconsin, on the 23d of December, 1850, at which time
the attractive metropolis and judicial center of the county, his native
city, was a mere village and the center of prosperous lumbering opera-
tions. He is a son of Michael J. and Agatha (Leins) Kremer. the former
of whom was born on the Hof Fensterseifen, near the city of Maien,
West Prussia, in 1823, and the latter of whom was born in the village of
Eutingen, in the famous Black Forest district of the kingdom of Wur-
temberg, Germany, in 1827. The father, who is still living, celebrated
his ninetieth birthday anniversary in the present year, 1913, his cher-
ished and devoted wife having passed to the life eternal in 1900. Their

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1445

marriage was solemnized in Milwaukee and of their three children the
older of the two living is he whose name initiates this review; Julia E.
is the wife of Charles W. Karst and they reside at Lakeland, Florida.

Michael J Kremer was reared to adult age in his native land, where
he received the advantages of the common schools and where also he
learned the trade of millwright. In 1848, when about twenty-four years
of age, he severed the ties that bound him to home and fatherland and
set forth to seek his fortunes in America. Wisconsin was at that time
receiving a large and worthy influx of pioneers from Germany, and Mr.
Kremer has ever considered himself fortunate that he made this state
his destination and the stage of his energetic and productive activities.
He first located in Milwaukee, where he continued to be employed at
his trade until his marriage, soon after which he removed to Oshkosh,
in 1849, to uiimber himself among the early settlers of that now opulent
and attractive city. After there working at his trade for a short time
he engaged in the manufacturing business. Later he became superin-
tendent of a foundry and machine shop, and he continued to be actively
and effectively identified with business and industrial interests at
Oshkosh and Milwaukee until 1874, since which time he has lived else-/
where. In the climacteric period culminating in the Civil war he was
a staunch abolitionist and for years he was a zealous supporter of the
cause of the Republican party. Ever since the founding of the Socialist
party he has been one of its staunchest adherents and has many times
been a candidate for office under it.

To the public schools of Oshkosh Charles E. Kremer is indebted for
his early educational discipline, and that he made good use of his op-
portunities is shown by the fact that at the age of eighteen years he
proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors. After teaching success-
fully in the district schools for a year he turned his attention to mercan-
tile pursuits and then to the study of law, under the effective preceptor-
ship of Henry H. and George C. Markham, who were then leading mem-
bers of the Milwaukee bar. He applied himself Avith characteristic
energy and appreciation and thus made substantial progress in his ab-
sorption and assimilation of the science of jurisprudence. He was ad-
mitted to the bar in Milwaukee in October, 1874, and in the following
April he was also admitted to practice before the supreme court of Wis-
consin. In 1875 he was admitted to the bar of Illinois. Since 1883 he
has been admitted to practice in the supreme court of the United States.

For nearly forty years Mr. Kremer has been engaged in the active
practice of his profession in the city of Chicago, where he established
his residence in May, 1875, and where he has confined his attention
largely to maritime law, in which he has become a recognized authority.
He has long controlled a large and important practice and retains a
clientage of representative order. He has high standing at the bar of
the great western metropolis and is one of the loyal and progressive

Vol. VI— 5

1446 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

citizens of his adopted city. He is also a ship o\\ner and lectures on
inaritime law in the law department of the University of Chicago, as
does he also in the Chicago Kent College of Law and the John Marshall
Law School. In 1908 he received from the Chicago Kent College of
Law the honorary degree of LL. B. In his home city he is a valued
and honored factor in the educational work of his profession and he
commands strong vantage-ground in the confidence and esteem of his
confreres at the bar, as well as of all others with whom he has come in
contact in the varied relations of a significantly active and useful career.
He is actively identified with the Illinois Bar Association and the Cook
County Bar Association, as well as the Chicago Law Club. He was the
founder of the Chicago Yacht Club and has ever taken a lively interest
in maritime sports and shipping. He is a stalwart and effective ad-
vocate of law reforms. He is a member of no church or religious so-
ciety. In his home city he is a member of the Union League Club, and
his continued interest in and loyalty to his native state are shown by
his close affiliation with the Wisconsin Society of Chicago, in which
he is chairman of the committee on membership.

On the 2d of May, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kremer
to Miss Margaret A. Collins, who was born at Oswego, New York, and
the one child of this union is a daughter, Jean, who is now married to
Scott W. Prime, a native of Wisconsin, who has returned to his native
state and is now living in Milwaukee.

Edward H. Staats. For a period of over twenty years Mr. Staats
has been closely identified with those activities which constitute the busi-
ness and civic life of a community, and which in the aggregate have
made Merrill one of the most progressive industrial and commercial cen-
ters of northern Wisconsin. He is a member of the firm of Emerich &
Staats, general merchants, 1504 W. Main Street in Merrill, dealers in
dry goods, groceries, men's furnishings, boots, shoes, rubbers, flour and
feed, and the house also does a large wholesale business in camp sup-
plies, furnishing lumber camps with supplies. The firm consists of Hon.
Joseph A. Emerich, present mayor of Merrill, and Edward H. Staats.
This business, by far the largest on the west side of JMerrill, was estab-
lished by Messrs. Emerich & Staats as a small grocery store in 1892. -
Since then by hard work and attention to business these two men have
risen to become leading citizens of Lincoln county.

Edward H. Staats was born in Watertown, AYisconsin, April 30,
1866, a son of Christian and Mary Staats. Christian Staats died in 1887
and the mother now resides in Milwaukee. The father was a native of
Germany, came to America when a young man, settling in Watertown,
where he rose to a position as one of the able business men. It was in
Watertown that Edward H. Staats grew up, attended the public schools
and the Northwestern University of that city, and when ready to earn

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1447

his own way in life he first learned the butcher and meat business, a
trade at which he was employed in Watertown, Lake Mills, "Waterloo
and at Madison. Then in 1891 he came to Merrill and became manager
of the City Meat Market. About a year later he joined forces with Mr.
Emerich and opened a stock of groceries in a small room in part of
the building now occupied by the firm of Emerich & Staats. At first
they rented this small store, but by working hard both early and late,
by discounting their bills and by supplying their growing custom with
fresh and reliable goods, they were soon able to buy the building in
which they conducted their business. Later they added a shoe depart-
ment, and added fifty feet to the length of their original store, remodel-
ing the entire place. With subsequent extensions of business, they occu-
pied the second floor, and also erected a large warehouse in the rear, and
have added the building on the west to the main store, that also being
used as a warehouse.

The partners devoted their entire time to the business until 1908,
in which year the Merrill Woodenware Company, a large manufacturing
concern making wooden kitchen utensils was organized by Mr. Staats
and Mr. Emerich, and one or two associates. Soon after the inception
of this industry, it was agreed that Mr. Staats should manage the store,
while Mr. Emerich should look after the woodenware company. Mr.
Emerich is now president of the Merrill Woodenware Company, with
Mr. Staats serving as treasurer. This is one of Merrill's coming indus-
tries. While only in existence about five years, the company already
have one of the largest modern equipped factories in the city, and employ
about one hundred and fifty hands, their weekly payroll being a consid-
erable item in the economic welfare of the city. Mr. Staats was chiefly
instrumental in establishing this business, having seen the possibilities
of such an enterprise, and having given much of his attention to making
it a success. Both he and his partner invested heavily in the concern,
which has paid dividends almost from the start. Mr. Staats is also a
director in the Lincoln County Bank of Merrill. This bank has a cap-
ital stock of $100,000.00 and recently moved into its modern bank build-
ing, the only exelusiva bank building in Lincoln county.

On October 27, 1897, Mr. Staats married Miss Mary Hankwitz of
Merrill. Their three children are Isabelle, Veneta and Edward. Fra-
ternally Mr. Staats is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows. While always a busy man, and having many commercial interests
to occupy his time and attention, Mr. Staats has shown much public
spirit in relation to community affairs. He has served as a member of
the Merrill school board, and also as a member of the Lincoln county
board of supervisors. At the present time he is representing the Sixth
Ward in the city council. In politics he is a Democrat.

Mr. Staats owns a fine two hundred acre stock farm located five miles
southwest of Merrill in the town of Corning, Lincoln countj'

1448 HISTORY OP WISCONSIN

William Gutenkunst. A native son of IMilwaukee, a man of fine
inventive genius and marked executive ability, and a citizen of ut-
most civic loyalty and progressiveness, Mr. Gutenkunst, who is in
the very prime of his strong and useful manhood, has exerted a
potent and benignant influence in the furtherance of the prestige of
Milwaukee as a commercial and industrial center, and he is today
numbered among the prominent and essentially representative fac-
tors in the manufacturing and commercial life of the city, where his
sterling character and admirable constructive enterprise have gained
to him high place in popular confidence and esteem. He was the
founder of the extensive and important industrial enterprise con-
ducted by the Milwaukee Hay Tool Company, of which he is president
and treasurer, as is he also of the allied corporation, the Milwaukee
Malleable & Grey Iron Works, the extensive and contiguous plants of
these fine corporations being eligibly situated at Layton Park, one of
the leading manufacturing and residence suburbs of Milwaukee. Mr.
Gutenkunst has been in the most significant sense the architect of his
own fortunes, as he began his independent career in a most modest
way and through his own ability and efforts has risen to a position
as one of the leading manufacturers and business men of his native
city, where he is also prominent and influential in public and general
civic affairs. He is a scion of one of the well known and highly hon-
ored pioneer families of the Wisconsin metropolis, where his parents
established their residence more than sixty years ago. Many of the
special mechanical devices manufactured by the companies of which
he is the executive head were invented and patented by Mr. Guten-
tunst, and his special talent as an inventor has done much to con-
serve the success of the great industrial enterprises which have been
evolved under his personal initiative and supervision.

William Gutenkunst was born in Milwaukee on the 6th of July,
1850, and is a son of Jacob and Catherine (Haas) Gutenkunst, both
of whom were born in Baden, Germany, though their acquaintance-
ship was not formed until both had come to America, the father as a
young man in search of better opportunities for winning independ-
ence by personal effort. The mother came to America unaccompanied
by her parents. Jacob Gutenkunst Avas born in the year 1829, and in
the state of New York was solemnized his marriage to Miss Cath-
erine Haas, who was born July 5, 1815. In 1849, the year following
that in which Wisconsin was admitted to statehood, they came to the
new commonwealth and established their home in Milwaukee, which
was then an aspiring little city with few metropolitan pretensions.
They were numbered among the sterling German pioneer citizens
of Milwaukee, where they passed the residue of their lives, Mrs.
Gutenkunst having long survived her husband, who died on the 11th
of September, 1869, she having been summoned to eternal rest on the

w^

■ ?.

// cS^f^^^^^y^^^^^nA/

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1449

26th of December, 1905, a few months after the celebration of her
ninetieth birthday anniversary. The remains of both rest in beautiful
Forest Home cemetery. Of the five children, two sons died in in-
fancy, and the other three still survive, William, of this review,
being the eldest of the number; Jacob is engineer in the Milwaukee
fire department, and has been in this field of service in his native city
for more than thirty-two years, his identification with the depart-
ment having antedated by three years the ever-memorable Newhall
House fire; Charles A., the youngest of the brothers, is individually
mentioned on other pages of this work, and is secretary and manager
of the two manufacturing companies of which his brother William
is president. Jacob Gutenkunst was a young man of about twenty
years at the time when he established his home in Milwaukee, and he
forthwith concerned himself with the business and social interests
of the little city, where he operated one of the first drays placed in
commission in the future metropolis and where he became a valued
member of the early volunteer fire department. When Company No.
3 of the paid fire department was established he had the distinction
of being the first driver of its hose cart, and in view of his eflPeetive
service in connection with the fire protective activities of the early
days it is specially pleasing to note the long association of one of his
sons with the local fire department, as mentioned above.

William Gutenkunst is indebted to the public schools of Milwaukee
for his early educational training, and also attended Engleman's
School, from which was evolved the admirable German-English
Academy of the present day. He was a pupil in the first public school
on the South side of Milwaukee, and in the same he received instruc-
tion from Mrs. Trowbridge, who was a most popular teacher and who
died in Milwaukee in the spring of 1913, at a venerable age. As a
youth Mr. Gutenkunst became associated with practical affairs and
he has made a splendid record as one of the world's constructive
workers. Forty years ago, on the 3d of May, 1873, when a young man
of twenty-three years, he initiated his independent business career
by securing modest quarters in the old gas house building, on Reed
street, where he engaged in the repairing and rebuilding of sewing
machines. His initiative ability and mechanical skill came into
effective play and at the same location he finally instituted the manu-
facturing of hay forks of his own invention. He admitted to part-
nership his younger brother, Charles A., and the firm title of William
& Charles A. Gutenkunst was then adopted. The enterprise grew
rapidly and finally removal was made to larger and more eligible
quarters, at the corner of Park street and Eighth avenue. After the
admission of the late Adam Loeffelholz to partnership the business
was conducted under the title of the Milwaukee Hay Tool Company,
the two brothers having previously adopted and used the somewhat

1450 HISTORY OP WISCONSIN

more unwieldy title of the Milwaukee Hay Tool & Manufacturing
Company. In the manufaetvire of hay tools and corn huskers of su-
perior order the business grew apace, and in 1893 the company ob-
tained a tract of land in -Layton Park, where its extensive and admira-
bly equipped plant was erected and has still remained. As an allied
but definitely distinct enterprise of important order it was estab-
lished, on the 6th of June, 1899, the Milwaukee Malleable & Grey
Iron Works, and the large plant of this company lies contiguous to
that of the Milwaukee Hay Tool Company, and of both of these con-
cerns Mr. Gutenkunst was the founder, even as he is also president
and treasurer of each. The great enterprises base their operations
on ample capital, careful and conservative executive policies and
the highest grade of products, and the two companies give employ-
ment to an average force of from five to six hundred men, a large
percentage of whom are skilled artisans. The Milwaukee Malleable
& Grey Iron Works controls also a large amount of contract work and
supplies malleable iron to other important industrial concerns, in-
cluding the Moline Plow Company, of Moline, Illinois. In this sketch,
with its necessarily prescribed limitations, it is impossible to enter
into details concerning the various products of the two substantial
concerns of which Mr. Gutenkunst is the executive head, but it may
be noted that among the principal products of the Milwaukee Hay
Tool Company are the Leader litter carrier, the Milwaukee corn
huskers and fodder shredders; steel and wood track hay-carriers,
improved swivel-sling hay carriers, and cable-track carriers; hang-
ing hooks for steel and wood tracks; rafter brackets, harpoon forks,
grapple forks and derrick hay-forks ; Standard wagon slings; pulleys
and pulley blocks and conveyors; wire stretchers, tackle hoists, cattle
stanchions, ornamental iron-fence pickets, etc. The major part of
the devices manufactured by this company represents the concrete
results of the inventive ability of Mr. Gutenkunst, and he gives much
time to the study and experimentation Avhich have brought about such
valuable results and given him prestige as one of the resourceful and
representative business men of his native city and state. He is a
director of the Wisconsin State Bank, and is a valued and loyal mem-
ber of the Merchants' & Manufacturers' Association of Milwaukee.

In a fraternal way Mr. Gutenkunst is affiliated with the Knights
of Pythias and the National Union, and he also holds membership in
the Friday Bowling Club. He was formerly a member of the Wis-
consin National Guard and was prominently identified with one of
its leading organizations in Milwaukee.

Liberal and progressive as a citizen, Mr. Gutenkunst is found
arrayed as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party,
and he served six years as a member of the city board of aldermen,
in which he ably represented the Eleventh ward, from 1885 to 1891.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1451

111 1909 he was chosen a member of the board of city service commis-
sioners, in which important municipal body he continued to serve
with characteristic fidelity until the expiration of his term, in July,
1913. Their attractive home is located at 388 Fourteenth avenue.

On the 11th of November, 1871, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Gutenkunst to Miss Katie Hostadt, of Milwaukee, and they have
one son and seven daughters, concerning whom the following brief
record is given : Tony is the wife of William Schubert, of Milwaukee ;
Rosa, who is the wife of Frank W. Fellenz, president of the Calumet
Club of this city, in 1913; Alma, who is the wife of Matthias Seholl,
of Mihvaukee; Nettie, who is the wife of Charles E. Van Sickle, of
this city ; Miss Flora, who remains at the parental home ; Mada, who
is the wife of Fred C. Seideman, of Hancock, Michigan; Miss Lillie,
who remains at home, as does also William A., who is the only son and
Avho is associated with the business enterprises of which his father is
the head.

In a reminiscent way it may be stated that Mr. Gutenkunst
learned his trade under the late Carl F. Kleinstuber, a pioneer ma-
chinist and manufacturer of Milwaukee. Mr. Gutenkunst early gave
manifestation of his progressive spirit and initiative, as he was the
first business man to provide for the sprinkling of streets on the South
side of the city, his -service having been on Reed street, where his
place of business was then established. He utilized one of the prim-
itive types of street-sprinklers and personally operated the same in
the evenings, after the completion of his regular day's work. Those
of the business men along the street who failed to contribute a due
quota for the service were accorded definite mark of their lack of
enterprise, as Mr. Gutenkunst shut off the water from his sprinkler
when passing their places of business, there having been several
"arid strips" of this order. In the early days he also filled his
father's place on the fire department when his sire was ill or other-
wise unable to attend to the matter. Mr. Gutenkunst has ever main-
.tained his home in Milwaukee and has shown the highest degree of
civic loyalty, with a deep and abiding appreciation of the advantages
and attractions of the fine metropolis which he has seen evolved
from a city of minor order.

P. F. DoLAN. In the quarter century covering the active career of
Mr. P. F. Dolan he has risen to an important place of influence and
business prestige in Shawano county, which has been his home for the
past seventeen years. 'Mr. Dolan was for many years one of the capa-
ble educators of Wisconsin, and had charge of schools in different locali-
ties. He is now the head of the firm of P. F. Dolan Land Comany, real
estate, insurance and loans, and is a director in the German-American
National Bank of Shawano. He still keeps in active touch with educa-

1452 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

tioiial affairs aud is president of the Shawauo School Board, having held
that office five years. He moved to the city of Shawano from AVittenberg,
in this county, in 1905, and had served on the Wittenberg school board.
He was also in the real estate and loan business at Wittenberg for four
years, from 1901 to 1905.

Mr. Dolan came to Shawano county from Highland, Iowa county,
Wisconsin, where he was born May 12, 1868. His father, P. H. Dolan,
came to Wisconsin as a small boy from Pennsylvania, settling in Iowa
county, where he was a substantial and well known farmer. His wife,
Mary Hughes, was born in Canada. Both parents died in Iowa county.

The early years of Mr. Dolan were spent on an Iowa county farm,
and largely through his own efforts and careful economy, he received
what amounted to a liberal education. From the local rural schools he
entered the high school at Highland, graduating in the class of 1888. He
then took a course in the normal school at Platteville, and graduated
there in 1895. He also attended the University of Wisconsin during the
winters of 1896-97, but did not have enough money to complete his
course. In the meantime he had qualified as a teacher, and altogether
spent thirteen years in that vocation. His services included one term
at Almond in Portage county, four years at Wittenberg, in Shawano
county, four years at Drybone, one term at Hollandale. He entered the
real estate business in Wittenberg in 1901, and continued there until
early in 1905. His removal to Shawano was the consequence of his elec-
tion to the office of registrar of deeds of Shawano county, a post which he
held for one term.

In 1892 Mr. Dolan married Miss Sadie Wallace, of Hartford, Wis-
consin. Their tw^o sons are Francis and Wallace. Mr. Dolan is a pop-
ular member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is one
of the best known citizens of Shawano county.

D. E. Wescott. Prominent as a banker, business man and public
official of Shawano county, Mr. Wescott represents one of the first of
the pioneer name in the history of this locality. His father w^as one of
those brave and self-reliant home-makers, who pushed through the wil-
derness and advanced the frontier of civilization during the early days.
His father was a very prominent man in public affairs for many years,
and the son has been a worthy successor, having a long record of service
in important official capacities, and being closely identified \vith the busi-
ness life of his home community.

Though born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, December 11, 1850, D. E. W^es-
cott may properly claim Shawano county as his life-long home, since the
family had been living in this county for a number of years before his
birth, and only the temporary absence of his mother in Oshkosh pre-
vented him from being a native son of the county. His parents were
Charles D. and Jane (Dx'iesbach) Wescott. Charles D. Wescott came to

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN U53

Wiseonsiu territory about ISil. He was boru in St. Lawrence county,
New York, while his wife was a native of Livingston county in the same
state. During his early residence in Wisconsin, Charles D. Wescott
belonged to the lower ranks of the industrial army, and worked as, a
laborer in different parts of the state. In 1843 he first came to Sha-
wano county, and assisted in the construction of a dam across the outlet
of Shawano Lake. In 1848 he was married, and brought his bride to
Shawano county. She was the first permanent white woman settler in
Shawano county. A short time before the birth of her son she left the
frontier settlement and went to Oshkosh in order to get medical attend-
ance, and it was for these pioneer reasons that D. E. Wescott was born
and spent the first nine or ten months of his life at O.shkosh. The father
had some land in Winnebago county, and traded it for a tract in Sha-
wano county, and it was on this land, located about a half mile north of
the city limits of Shawano that D. E. Wescott grew to manhood.

Charles D. Wescott was for many years chairman of the board of
supervisors of Shawano county. By occupation he was a farmer and
logger throughout his active career, and was considered one of the most
expert loggers and river drivers in this section. His death occurred in
Shawano county on his old farm at the age of eighty-five years and was
preceded by his wife's some five or six years. She was seventy-seven
years of age at the time of her death.

Mr. D. E. Wescott was reared on the home farm, had a country
school education, and later taught school about three terms. He early
took a prominent part in public affairs, and on leaving the school room^
was elected and served four years as registrar of deeds. Four years
after that he held the office of county clerk, and for a similar period was
county treasurer. For one term he was elected and served in the state
senate from 1893 to 1897. Mr. Wescott has also been mayor of Sha-
wano for two terms. He is now administering the office of city clerk, a
place which he has held since 1900. In connection with his official duties
he conducts a fire insurance agency. He was for a number of years a,
director in the old Shawano County Bank, and when that bank was re-
organized in 1900 as the First National Bank of Shawano, he was elected
vice president, a position which he still holds. Mr. W^escott has for more
than forty years been an active member of the I\Ia.sonie Order, and for
a long time served as master of his local lodge.

In 1874 D. E. Wescott and Harriet E. Coon were united in mar-
riage. She was born at Friendship, New York, and had come to Wiscon-
sin to visit her relatives, the McCords. It was during this visit that she
met Mr. Wescott, and the latter some time later followed her to Friend-
ship, New York, where they were married in the same house in which
she had been born. A brother of Mrs. Wescott, Charles E. Coons, was
at one time assistant secretary of the treasury, afterwards moved out
to the state of Washington, where he was lieutenant governor. Mr. and

1454 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Mrs. Wescott have a family of three living children. Warde A. is a
prominent attorney at Crandon, Wisconsin; Bernard, died at Blaine,
Washington, in 1900. He was born in 1877, entered the revenue depart-
ment of the government service, and was connected with that work at
the time of his death. The next child, a daughter, died at the age of four
months. Harriet died also in infancy, Percy E., who saw three years
of military service while in the west, is now a resident of Hammond,
Oregon. He was married in Oregon, brought his wife home to Shawano,
where he spent a year, and then returned to Oregon to live. Ralph
Rogers, is a graduate of the Shawano high school in the class of 1913
and is now a student at Lawrence College of Appleton, Wis.

Thomas B. Keith. In the general commercial activities of the city
of Eau Claire, there is no firm that stands higher and has greater influ-
ence in the scope of its enterprise than that of Keith Brothers, two vig-
orous young business men, who direct and control very important lum-
ber and land interests in this state and elsewhere.

Thomas B. Keith is a native of the city of Eau Claire, and a son
of the late John J. Keith and his wife Agnes (Barland) Keith. His
father located at Eau Claire half a century ago, while his mother is one
of the oldest pioneer women of the city, and belongs to a family which
was established here before the town itself. The interesting details of
the family history of the Keiths and the Barlows will be found in the
sketch of Mr. Alexander J. Keith, elsewhere in these pages.

Mr. Thomas B. Keith received his early education in the grade and
high schools of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. On leaving school he appUed
himself with energy and ambition to acquiring the essential experiences
necessary to success in business. His first business employment was as
bookkeeper for the Eau Claire Rolling Mill Company, subsequently he
was bookkeeper with the Drummond Brothers, and in 1891 entered the
Eau Claire National Bank as assistant cashier. He was an active official
in that bank until 1903 at which date was organized the firm of KeitH
Brothers, consisting of himself and his brother Alexander J. They have
since then done an extensive business in timber and farm lands, operat-
ing extensive holdings both in Wisconsin and in the west. They are
also actively interested in a large logging and saw-milling business in
Oregon. Mr. Keith is a director in the Eau Claire National Bank and
in the Eau Claire Savings Bank.

He tak^s a very prominent part in Masonry. His local affiliations
are with Eau Claire Lodge No. 112, A. F. & A. M., with Eau Claire
Chapter No. 36 R. A. M., and with Eau Claire Commandery No. 8 K.
T. He is also a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and affiliates
with the Wisconsin Consistory, and the Tripoli Temple of the Mystic
Shrine. In politics he is a Republican.

On October 18, 1898, Mr. Keith married Miss Mary Grassie. She was

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1455

born in Methuen, Massachusetts, a daughter of Thomas G. and Mary-
Elizabeth (Holbrook) Grassie. Her father, a native of Scotland, came
to this country at the age of eight years, and was educated in Amherst
CoUege, and took up the work of the ministry in the Congregational
church. When a young man he came west and began his ministry in
Wisconsin during the early days of the state. He held charges at Osh-
kosh and at Appleton, Wisconsin, and later had charge of the mission-
ary work covering the entire state. The four children comprising the
home circle of Mr. and Mrs. Keith are named as follows : Effie G.,
Thomas G., John Johnston and Mary E.

Henry Schoellkopf. The late Henry Schoellkopf who was one of
the best known younger attorneys of Milwaukee, a member of the firm
of Markham & Schoellkopf, was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1879,
and died in St. Mary's hospital in Milwaukee in December, 1912.

A grandson of the late Fred Vogel, he received his preparatory edu-
cation in Switzerland and then entered Cornell University. On grad-
uating from Cornell he entered Harvard where he took the law course
and was graduated in 1906. Mr. Schoellkopf was prominent in college
athletic circles while a student in Cornell and Harvard. He was a
member of the football team of both schools and was named in the all-
American teams during his football days. On leaving college he kept
in touch with the sport and made trips to Cornell to assist in coaching
the team. He was a member of the University Club of ]\Iilwaukee, and
the- University Club of Chicago. A short time before his death he had
been elected president of the Milwaukee University Club, and besides
he was a member of the Milwaukee Club and the Town Club. Mr.
Schoellkopf 's business connections were numerous. He was attache of
the Northwestern Mutual Life & Insurance Company, was a share-
holder in the Niagara Falls Power Company, and was interested in a
number of other large enterprises.

On November 29, 1911, he married Miss Elizabeth Murphy, daugh-
ter of the late John P. Murphy. A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs.
Schoellkopf a few weeks before his death.

John P. Murphy. Until death laid its restraining finger upon him,
the late John P. Murphy was one of the best known and ablest of Mil-
waukee's bankers, and men of affairs. He was at his death vice presi-
dent of the Milwaukee National Bank, and for many years had been
prominent in financial and business affairs of the city.

John P. Murphy was born in the Third ward of Milwaukee, Septem-
ber 15, 1850, and his boyhood was spent in attendance at the old "Pome-
roy" school with other sturdy boys of that locality, including Thomas
G. Shaughnessy, later president of the Canadian & Pacific Railroad.
The late Mr. IMurphy was a graduate of the school of hard work and

1456 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

varied experience. As a boy lie sold newspapers on the street. When
eleven years old he was taken in as an assistant in the Lydston & Mosher
photographic studio, and was soon set to coloring photographs, an art
in which he displayed great skill. At the age of eighteen he began work-
ing for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad as a bill clerk in
Milwaukee.

From his native city he transferred his activities to Chicago, where
he was in the freight offices of the Northwestern road as a clerk, and also
spent some time as a railroad freight clerk with the old Hannibal and
St. Joe Railroad in Kansas City. While in Kansas City at the age of
twenty, he began his banking career as bookkeeper in the First National
Bank. In 1873 he was made receiving teller in the jMauston Bank. Mr.
Murphy in 1874 returned to Milwaukee, and entered the services of
the First National Bank in this city. Twelve years later he became
cashier of the newly organized Plankinton Bank. Before the failure
of this institution, at the beginning of the panic of 1893, he had gone
over to the Wisconsin Marine & Fire Insurance Company Bank, in the
office of cashier. When that bank was closed he became vice president
of the Milwaukee National, where he still continued as an important
factor in the welfare of the institution until his death on January 24,
1909.

The late IMr. Murphy was vice president of the Milwaukee Bankers
Club. He held membership in the Milwaukee, the Deutscher. and the
Athletic Clubs. As a citizen he served some time as a member of the
Fire and Police Commission. He was a director of the Milwaukee Gas
Light and the Milwaukee Trust Company, and was chairman of the
Gas Light Company.

In social life, ]\Ir. ]\Iurphy was a genial, friendly companion, a man
who possessed the ability to make and to keep friends. In business he
was the soul of honor, and was noted for his painstaking exactness and
accuracy. In banking and financial circles, he stood in the highest
esteem of his associates and fellows.

Editorially the Evening Wisconsin of Jamiary 25. 1909. said of
him; "John P. Murphy, vice president of the Milwaukee National Bank,
who passed from life yesterday afternoon, after a prolonged illness,
was a 'Milwaukee boy' of the first generation following the pioneers
who laid the foundation of the city. Except for a few years during
which he was identified with banking interests in the southwest, the
energies of Mr. Murphy's mature years were exerted in his home city,
to which his heart clung during his absence and to which he was glad
to return. His familiar face will be missed by many business asso-
ciates, including valued friends who through long years of association
came to know his sterling qualities as a man of business and as a friend. "

June 2, 1875, Mr. Murphy married Miss Catherine Shea, daughter
of the late Thomas Shea, and to them were born three sons and three

HISTORY OP WISCONSIN 1457

daughters: Harry, who resides iu Kansas City, Missouri; Fredrick, a
resident of Milwaukee; Frank, who resides in Akron, Ohio; Elizabeth,
who married the late Henry Schoellkopf, and resides in Milwaukee;
Alice and Ruth. Mrs. Murphy and her family now reside in the old
home at 512 Terrace Avenue in Milwaukee.

Hon. George Wilbur Peck, who gained world-wide fame as the
author of "Peek's Bad Boy," and who incidentally was the sixteenth
Governor of Wisconsin, celebrated the seventy-second anniversary
of his birth on September 27, 1912. The Milwaukee Sentinel in its
issue of that date said of him: "Former Governor George W. Peck,
one of Milwaukee's most famous literary men, author of 'Peck's
Bad Boy' and several other stories, will celebrate the seventy-second
anniversary of his birth on Friday. No elaborate celebration is
planned, but Mr. Peck will spend the day quietly at his home, 190
Farwell avenue, with his family. He has been on a business trip to
Lomira, Wisconsin, for the last few days, and will return to Milwaukee
on Friday. 'I w^ould rather be in a duck boat in a blizzard than sit-
ting quietly in front of a tire in the house any day in the week,' said
the governor, 'and I think that the trouble with young men is that
they do not get fresh air enough. I walk seven or eight miles every
day, and that is why my friends are congratulating me on my good
health.' "

George Wilbur Peck was born in Henderson, Jefferson county.
New York, on September 28, 1840, and is the son of David B. and
Alzina Peck. When he was three years old his parents moved to
Wisconsin and settled near Whitewater, and in the schools of that
place he received his early educational training. In 1855 he entered
the office of the Whitewater Register, as an apprentice, and when he
had mastered his trade Avorked as a journeyman printer on numerous
papers in the state of Wisconsin. He finally became foreman of the
Watertown Repuhlican. For a time he served as hotel clerk at
Janesville, remaining there until the proprietor of the hotel failed in
1860, and in that year he established the Jefferson County Republican.
In 1863 he disposed of his interests there and moved to Madison,
where for a time he was occupied as a typesetter on the Wisconsin
State Journal. Later in the same year he enlisted as a private in the
Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry, and after the cessation of hostilities was
mustered out with the rank of Lieutenant. Upon his return to the
state he established the Ripon Representative, but in 1868 sold it to
respond to a call to an editorship on Pomeroy's Democrat in New
York City. Three years later he returned to Wisconsin and became
editor of the La Crosse branch of the same paper and in 1874 pur-
chased a half interest in the concern. In the same year he started
Peck's Sun, which he removed to Milwaukee in 1878, that year mark-

1458 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

ing a decided advance in the prosperity of his journalistic career.
The Sun soon became known throughout the country because of a
certain flavor which editorial and other articles in the paper bore,
and a strong tinge of humor which was a latent quality of the editor
was allowed to penetrate the columns of his paper, which resulted in
a popularity which brought the paper a circulation of eighty thou-
sand copies a week, extending to all parts of the country. Thus his
finances promptly assumed a more healthy aspect, and his pi-esent
financial independence was reached directly through the success of
his paper, the Sim.

Mr. Peck's first political activities dated back to the year 1867,
when he was city treasurer of Ripon, Wisconsin, and thereafter he
held various offices of more or less importance. In 1874-5 he was
chief clerk of the Assembly, and he served as Assistant State Treas-
ury Agent for a year while Governor Taylor was filling the guberna-
torial chair of the state. He supported Cleveland in both of his
administrations, and when he removed to Milwaukee he manifested a
healthy interest in municipal affairs which resulted in his election
to the mayoralty in 1890. Soon thereafter he received the nomination
of his party for Governor, and was duly elected to that office, winning
in the contest by a plurality of 28,000 votes. Two years later he
succeeded himself in the governorship, his plurality in this event
being 8,000. In 1894 he was again the candidate of his party for
election to that high office, but with the rest of his party, suffered
defeat at the election. Ten years later, in 1904, he was again his
party's choice for governor, but failed of election. He has the
unique distinction of having been four times candidate for the gov-
ernorship of Wisconsin, being twice elected.

As a humorous writer, it is conceded that Governor Peck is one
of the best known in the United States. His "Bad Boy" sketches won
him universal fame, while his humor touched upon every phase of
life, and attracted a notice that made his paper famous all over the
country, while many of his writings were produced in book form.

Concerning this phase of his nature and disposition, the Tammany
Times in writing of him has well said : ' ' Peck 's sunshine is not all in
print. He shows the quintessence of good nature in his daily walk
and conduct. In his public speaking, newspaper writing and in
repartee he is full of bubbling, innocent fun. Although the humorous
side of his nature is largely developed, when occasion demands he
has the dignity and bearing of the most reserved, and carries his
honors with a grace that is seldom equaled. He is sympathetic and
generous, charitable to the opinions of those who differ from him,
and his political life is without a blemish."

In 1860 Governor Peck was married to Miss Francena Rowley, of
Delavan, Wisconsin. Since his retirement from public life, he has.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1459

lived quietly in Milwaukee, where he maintains his home, at 190
Farwell avenue.

Edward R. Estberg. One of the best known financial institutions
in Wisconsin is the Waukesha National Bank, with a continuous his-
tory of more than half a century, and with resources and facilities which
place it on a par with the leading institutions of the state. On other
pages of this history will be found the career of the honored president
of the bank, Mr. A. J. Frame, one of the ablest authorities on banking
and finance in the country. The cashier of the Waukesha National is
Edward R. Estberg, who has been continuously identified with this
institution for more than a quarter of a century, and entered it as a
messenger, and for a number of years past has been entrusted with
much of the management of this institution. Besides his position as a
banker, Mr. Estberg is identified with other local business interests.
He is one of the progressive citizens of his native city and county, and
enjoys the thorough confidence and esteem of the entire community.

Edward R. Estberg was born in Waukesha, November 25, 1862. His
parents were Claes A. and Sophia (Schlitz) Estberg. The father was
born in Sweden, where he was reared and educated and learned the
trade of jeweler. His birth occurred on February 23, 1825, and at the
age of twenty-four, in 1849, he came to America. About ten years after
his arrival, he 'established his home at Waukesha, and there built up a
prosperous business as a jeweler. On Christmas day of 1864, he mar-
ried ]Miss Sophia Schlitz and she survived her husband a number of
years. They became the parents of four sons.

The early youth of Edward R. Estberg was divided between local
schools and practical training for his business career. At the age of
fourteen he left the Waukesha schools, and for four years worked in
his father's jewelery store. On the nineteenth of June. 1880, he took
his place as messenger in the Waukesha National Bank. It was his
ambition to learn banking in all details and make that his permanent
career, and by close attention to his work and proving himself trust-
worthy in every responsibility, he was advanced to the office of book-
keeper and then to teller. His work as teller of the Waukesha National
continued for more than twenty years, and in 1907 he was elected cash-
ier. The Waukesha National Bank succeeded the Waukesha County
Bank that was organized in 1855. The national charter was taken out
in 1865, and it is now not only one of the oldest among national banks
of Wisconsii>, but has had a continuous record of substantial growth
and prosperity. Its capital stock is one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, its surplus funds aggregate more than its capital, and its de-
posits are nearly two and a half million dollars. The home of the Wau-
kesha National is one of the finest and most modern bank buildings in
in the state. The executive officers of the Waukesha National are : An-

1^60 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

drew J. Frame, president; Frank H. Putney, vice president; Henry
M. Frame, vice president; Edward R. Estberg, cashier; and Walter
R. Frame and John G. Gredler, assistant cashiers. All of these officers,
except the assistant cashiers, are directors, and the other member of
the directorate is John Brehm, Jr.

Mr. Estberg is also vice president and a director of the Waukesha
Malleable Iron Company, and of the Waukesha Motor Company; a
director of the Modern Steel Structural Company; is treasurer and
a director of the Dehydrating Company, an important Waukesha con-
cern ; is a director of the National Water Company, owners of the cele-
brated White Rock Mineral Springs of Waukesha, and is vice presi-
dent and a director of the Compton Manufacturing Company of Wau-
kesha. It w^as due to the work of Mr. Estberg primarily that the pur-
chase of. the White Rock Springs property was effected by the present
company. For this valuable property, whose product is known all over
the nation, the sum of one million five hundred dollars was paid in cash,
that being the largest cash transaction ever made in Waukesha county.

A successful business man, Mr. Estberg has always shown great
public spirit and interests in the civic welfare of his home city. His
name has been associated with many of the local undertakings and
movements for the betterment of AVaukesha city and county. In poli-
ties he is a Republican, but has never sought any office or political hon-
ors of any kind. His fraternal affiliations are with the Lodge, Chapter
and Commandery of the Masonic Order, and for a quarter of a century,
he has had membership in the Protestant Episcopal church, to which
his wife also belongs. On November 8, 1893, Mr. Estberg married Miss
Sara Brown. They are the parents of five children : Lola, John, Mar-
garet, Edward and Charles.

John C. Thompson. As one of the representative members of the
bar of his native state and as one of the prominent and influential citi-
zens of Oshkosh, AVinnebago county, Mr. Thompson is well entitled to
specific recognition in this publication. He was born at Princeton,
Green Lake county, Wisconsin, on the 28th of April, 1872, and is a son
of John C. and Catherine ]\I. (Cameron) Thompson, who came to Wis-
consin in 1849. He whose name initiates this review is indebted to the
public schools of Wisconsin for his earlier educational discipline, which
was supplemented by four years at Ripon College, at Ripon, this state,
and he later attended the University of Wisconsin, at Madison. In
preparation for the work of his chosen profession, Mr. Thompson was
matriculated in the Wisconsin college of Law, at Madison, and in this
institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1893, with the
degree of Bachelor of Law^s. He was admitted to the bar of his native
state and in July of the same year he opened an office in Oshkosh, where
he has since been engaged in the active practice of his profession and

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1461

where he has gained high standing as a versatile advocate and well for-
tified counselor, with the result that he has long retained a representa-
tive clientage and has been identified with much of the important liti-
gation before the courts of this section of the state.

Mr. Thompson is a man of distinctive intellectual attainments and
high literary appreciation, and his study and research have been car-
ried into a wide sphere. He is a life member of the Wisconsin State
Historical Association, one of the most vital and admirable organiza-
tions of the kind in the Union, and he is also identified with the Ameri-
can Bar xVssoeiation, and the National Geographical Society. He has
been one of the most ardent and effective of workers in behalf of the
cause of the Republican party, and served for six years as chairman of
the Republican county committee of Winnebago county, an office in
which he showed much skill and discrimination in manoeuvering the
political forces at his command. He served four years as chairman of
the county board of supervisors, and during this time was an insistent
advocate of progressive policies, with due conservatism in the admin-
istration of county affairs. He was also for a time a member of the
Oshkosh board of education. Mr. Thompson is a stockholder in a num-
ber of banking institutions in his home state, besides which he is a mem-
ber of the well known firm of Thompson, Pinkerton & Jackson, attor-
neys at law of Oshkosh.

In the year 1899 was solemnized the marriage of ^Ir. Thompson to
Miss Mabel A. Gile, a former resident of Neenah, Wisconsin, and they
have three children, namely: John C, Jr., Robert R. and Barbar S.
Thompson.

Robert Kelly. Since his advent in Superior, in 1892, Robert Kelly
has been identified with some of the largest industries which have added
to the prestige of his adopted city, but his activities have not been con-
fined to the advancing of his personal interests, for at all times he has
manifested a commendable willingness to co-operate with other earnest
and hard-working citizens in forwarding movements for the public
welfare. A native of the East, he came to Wisconsin in the prime of^
manhood, bringing with him a wide experience, a thorough knowledge
of men and affairs and that ability and judgment which are only ac-
quired by active participation in the marts of trade and commerce. In
his new field, he found ample scope for his attainments, and he has
steadily risen to his merited place among the men to whom the general
public looks for counsel, advice and leadership. Mr. Kelly was born
December 26, 1849, in New York City, and is a son of Robert and Arietta
A. (Hutton) Kelly. His father, a native of Brooklyn, was for some
years engaged in the dry goods business in New York, but early entered
Democratic politics, and becoming one of the first members of Tam-
many Hall, was elected president of the New York Board of Education,

1462 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

aud subsequently became city comptroller, a position he held at the time
of his death, when he was but forty-six years of age. His wife, also a
native of the Empire State, survived him for a long period, and passed
away when seventy years old, having been the mother of three children,
of whom Robert is the second.

Robert Kelly was given excellent educational advantages, attending
the public and high schools of his native city, Yale College and the
Columbia College of Law, from which last-named institution he was
grd^duated with the class of 1872. He at once entered business in the
East, and until coming to Wisconsin devoted his energies to the iron
business and other large ventures. His versatile abilities have led him
into varied lines of trade, and at present he is general manager of the
Land & River Company, Reorganized, resident manager of the United
States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Company and vice president of the
First National Bank of Superior, and represents other large real estate
interests here. He has not been indifferent to the social amenities, and
is at present president of the Country Club, and holds membership in
Superior Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Kelly
holds independent views in political matters and has not entered the
public arena, although he has realized the duties of citizenship and is
now serving as a member of the board of park commissioners.

Mr. Kelly was married to ]\Iiss Mabel Silliman of New Haven, Con-
necticut, daughter of Benjamin Silliman, a noted educator of the East.
Five children have been born to this union: Robert; William; Mabel,
who is the wife of P. G. Stratton, of Superior ; Faith, the wife of J. M.
Kennedy, of Chicago; and Eleanor R.

Louis Hanitch. Were a comparison instituted among lawyers in
general practice in the state of Wisconsin, to prove which of them all
have enjoyed the largest measure of public confidence as a manager of
eases calling for deep knowledge- of law and practice, readiness of re-
source, energy of action and power of logical argument, the name of
Louis Hanitch, of Superior, would be found very near the head. Com-
ing to this city in 1891, he has rapidly risen in the ranks of his pro-
fession, and is today recognized by bar and public as one of the most
able legists practicing in the Douglas county courts. ]\Ir. Hanitch is a
native of Dayton, Ohio, and was born October 9, 1863, a son of John
and Mary (Schilb) Hanitch. Both parents were born in Germany.

Louis Hanitch received his early education in the public schools of
Dayton, Ohio, following which he took a preparatory course at the
University of Ohio, at Columbus. Subsequently he spent two years
in a private school at Dayton, and when nineteen years of age went to
Bismarck, North Dakota, there spending two years in agricultural pur-
suits. His first regular introduction into legal life was in the office of
Flannery & Cooke, where he spent about two years, following which he

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1463

was admitted to the bar and followed his profession in North Dakota
until 1891. While in that state, he served as district attorney of Bur-
leigh county, and also as assistant attorney general for the territory of
North Dakota. In August, 1891, he established himself in practice in
Superior, and here he has continued to follow his profession to the
present time. Mr. Hanitch has a large and representative general
practice. He has taken a prominent part in a number of eases of an
important nature, which have been brought to a successful issue and in
which his success has been due to a certain life-long habit of action,
which has always led him to examine for himself every vital point in
question, and to give up no search as hopeless until he has exhausted
its possibilities. He has served as a member of the school board of
Superior and in October, 1912, he was appointed by the Supreme Court
of Wisconsin a member of the State Board of Bar Examiners. He is a
member of the Douglas County and Wisconsin State Bar Associations
and is also connected with the Superior Commercial Club, and Supe-
rior Lodge, A. F. & A. M. His political support has been given to the
Republican party.

On March 12, 1890, Mr. Hanitch was united in marriage with Miss
Elizabeth Farquhar, who was born in California, and to this union
there have been born three children, the Misses Mary, Catherine L.
and Elizabeth.

Andrew B. Oettinger. Now serving in his third term as registrar
of deeds of Forest county, Andrew Oettinger has been a resident of
this county for twel,ve years, and in an official capacity and through
his business has furnished a valuable service to the community. For
a number of years he has been engaged in the insurance, loan and
abstract business in Forest county, and his careful record, his integ-
rity in his dealings between investors and purchasers have never
been questioned. Mr. Oettinger is a successful man, and deserves
great credit for what he has accomplished. When he was about foiar
years of age he was run over by a sleigh, and as a result of the
injur}'^ one of his legs had to be taken off near the hip, so that he has
been a cripple practically all his life, but is wonderfully active, and
though he has been in consequence set out from many lines of em-
ployment, he has perhaps been all the more valuable as a factor in
his chosen vocation.

Mr. Oettinger was tirst elected registrar of deeds of Forest county
in the fall of 1908, taking office the first Monday of January of the
following year. He was reelected in 1910, and again in 1912, each
time on the Republican ticket. Prior to taking the office of registrar
of deeds he was a resident of Laona, and served as the first town
clerk of that town. He held the office of town clerk from the organi-
zation of the to-^^Ti government in 1902 until elected to his present

1464 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

oflRce. Mr. Oettinger has been a resident of Forest county since
February 28, 1901, at which time he located at Laona, in the eastern
part of the county, and engaged in the insurance business.

Andrew Oettinger was born at Menasha, Wisconsin, January 24,
1865, a son of Adam and Catherine (Sensenbrenner) Oettinger. His
parents, who were married in Wisconsin, were natives of Germany,
the father born at Baden, and coming to America at the age of nine-
teen first settling near Philadelphia, where he was employed for two
years, and then to Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, where he was mar-
ried. The mother was born in Alsace-Lorraine, a border province
between France and Germany. From Sheboygan Falls the family
moved to Appleton, and soon after to Menasha. When Andrew was
eleven years old his parents moved to Wood county, twenty-four
miles north of Stevens Point. The father died in 1907 at Stratford
in Marathon county. The mother is now living at Laona.

From the age of eleven until he was twenty-six, Mr. Oettinger
lived on the home farm in Wood county. In the fall of 1890 he Avas
elected registrar of deeds of Wood county, and held that office for
two terms from 1891 to 1895. He early developed a skill in the
handling of tools, and after leaving the office of registrar of deeds
in Wood county, he moved to Mattoon, Wisconsin, where he was
sav>--filer in a shingle mill for a year and a half. After that one
summer was spent as a filer in a shingle mill thirty miles from
Seattle, Washington. On his return from the west he located at
Laona in Forest county.

On January 7, 1891, Mr. Oettinger married JMiss Amalia Durst,
who was born in Manitowoc county, Wisconsin, a daughter of Martin
and Ernestine (Stahl) Durst. Her mother is dead, while her father
lives in Wood county. Mrs. Oettinger was reared in Wood county,
her family having moved there from ManitoAvoc county when she
was a child. The family of Andrew Oettinger and wife contained six
children : Andrew F., Helen, Arthur H., Earl, Theodore Joseph, and
Henry J.

Mr. Oettinger has taken a prominent part in affairs of the Catholic
church, belonging to the St. Joseph's congregation at Crandon and
being secretary of the parish. He is also affiliated with Appleton
Branch of the Knights of Columbus.

William A. Draves. A founder and developer of Milwaukee's
industrialism was the late William A. Draves, who had resided in Mil-
waukee since the late sixties, and for more than thirty years was a
prominent and influential factor in business affairs.

William A. Draves, who at the time of his death was vice president
of the Northwestern IMalleable Iron Works, was born in 1849 at Wiet-
stock. Germany, and received his early education in his native land.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 146&

On July 3, 1869, he arrived with the family of his parents at Milwau-
kee, being then twenty years of age. He began his career as a worker in
several different factories and eventually became foreman in the Wis-
consin Malleable Iron Works at Bay View. About 1883 he and Fred-
erick W. Sivyer established the Northwestern Malleable Iron Works,
and for twenty-three years he was associated with the development and
with the success of that industry. Mr. Draves served as vice president
of the company and gave his chief attention to the operation of the
plant until his death, which occurred March 14, 1906. ]\Ir. Draves was
also a stockholder in the Federal Malleable Iron Company and was
secretary of the Chain Belt Company. He had property interests in
West AUis.

The late Mr. Draves was well known in Masonry, having attained
thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite. The maiden name of his wife
was Emelie Sehilke, whose death occurred in December, 1907. Their
children were three sons and two daughters, namely, William A., now
assistant superintendent of the Northwestern Malleable Iron Works;
Henry Charles, who is connected with the Free Press of Milwaukee;
Albert W., who is a cadet at West Point Military Academy; Minnie T.,
who resides at the old home ; and Caroline M.

Dr. M. a. Flatley. Another of the successful and promising young
medical men of Antigo who are winning through to prosperity and
position in the medical profession is Dr. M. A. Flatley, who has been
engaged in practice in Antigo since 1903, in which year he was grad-
uated from the medical department of Marquette College, in Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin. He finished his senior year of study with an
eight months' service as interne at Trinity Hospital in Milwaukee,
after which he came direct to Antigo, and here has since continued in
comparative success and prosperity.

Dr. Flatley was born at Calumet county, Wisconsin, on August 20,
1877, and is a son of John and Mary (Dockery) Flatley. The father
yet lives in Green Bay, retired fi-om active life, and the mother is
deceased. John Flatley, now a man in his eighties, came first to
Wisconsin in the early forties. He took up land in Calumet county
and for many years was devoted to farm life in that county. Dr.
Flatley was reared on the farm home up to the age of fifteen, when
the family moved to Green Bay, and there he attended the schools of
that city, later entei-ing the Oshkosh Normal. His first independent
work was at Rhinelander in the capacity of a teacher, and after a
year in that work he took up the study of medicine, his college train-
ing being already mentioned in detail in a previous paragraph. Dr.
Flatley has done well with his talents and his opportunities thus far,
and bids fair to make a lasting name for himself in his profession.

In 1906 Dr. Flatley was united in marriage with Miss Eugenia

1466 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Shea, of Ashland, and they have two childi-en — Marie, aged five
years, and William, now two years old.

Dr. Flatley is a member of the Langlade County ]\Iedieal Society,
the Wisconsin State Medical Society, and the American Medical Asso-
ciation. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church, as is his wife,
and he is also identified with the Knights of Columbus, and has fra-
ternal affiliations with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He
and his wife participate in the leading social activities of Antigo, and
have a host of excellent friends in the city and county.

John Oelhapen. A grateful remembrance dwells in the minds of
all later comers for the ' ' father of a town. ' ' With the receding fron-
tier and the disappearance of the wilderness, the pioneers and the
founders of towns are also passing. One of the fine old characters
of northern Wisconsin, who belongs in this class is John Oelhafen,
affectionately spoken of by local residents as the "Father of Toma-
hawk." It was his distinction to have erected the first house and
established the first store on that site in 1887, and through the subse-
quent quarter century he has continued to be the first merchant in
importance, as he was in time. He has also been prominent in the
lumber industry in this locality. Mr. Oelhafen came to Tomahawk
from Wausau, where had been his home for fifteen years previously.

A native of Germany, John Oelhafen was born January 22, 1836, a
son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Beck) Oelhafen. When John was
eight or nine years of age, his parents emigrated to America and his
father bought a quarter section of land from the government in Wash-
ington county, Wisconsin. Wisconsin was still a territory, and thus
the Oelhafen family has been identified with Wisconsin since the
pioneer days. The mother died on the farm just mentioned and after-
wards the father sold out his possessions and moved to Milwaukee, in
which city his death occurred.

On the farm in Washington county, John Oelhafen grew to man-
hood, and acquired the industrious habits which so well fitted him
for his later . career. He received a practical education in the local
schools, although his education was limited to the fundamentals. At
the age of twenty-seven he married Annie Sophia Miller, also a native
of Germany. They are the parents of six children, named as follows :
Elizabeth is the wife of August Gastrow of Tomahawk; Andrew;
John W ; Mary is the wife of George Pfeifer, of Warsaw ; Annie is the
wife of Ed. Seim of Wausaw; and William. All the sons are asso-
ciated with the father in the mercantile business at Tomahawk.

While John Oelhafen was a young man he moved to Milwaukee,
where he had his first experience m business life, establishing a grocery
store there, and continuing in business until his removal to Wausaw.
At Wausaw he engaged in merchandising, and prospered and ex-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1467

tended, his trade over a large district during tlie fifteen years of his
residence. In the meantime he had become interested in the land and
timber business of Northern Wisconsin, and was a practical worker,
skilled in all the details of the lumber industry as carried on in the old
days. Each season he ran large quantities of logs down the river
before the first railroad was put through. Then moving to the new
town site of Tomahawk, he put up the first general store, and has
kept in advance with the growth of the town and the surrounding
country, by improving and extending his business from year to year.
He also has large interests in land and timber, owning a fine farm of
eight hundred acres, three miles northwest of Tomahawk. This land
is improved up to the best standard, having a fine barn, residence,
machine shed, fine farm equipment, and with about sixty head of
cattle, many hogs and other livestock. In northern Wisconsin he
also owns a delightful summer home. His possessions include many
thousand acres of timber land, all over the northern part of the state,
and also much land in South Dakota. At Tomahawk he is proprietor
of the sawmill known as the Oelhafen Number 1 ]\Iill. and operates
four or five different logging camps throughout the state. By his
fellow-citizens, John Oelhafen is estimated a millionaire. He started
in life without any more capital than the average farmer boy possesses,
and has made his fortune entirely as a result of straightforward deal-
ings, and a persistent application of the energies of his nature to the
work in hand. Mr. Oelhafen is a director in the Bradley State Bank
of Tomahawk. Religiously he is a member of the German Lutheran
church.

M. C. Hyman. Known all over Lincoln county as Charlie Hyman,
this pioneer resident of Tomahawk is one of the most popular men in
this section of Wisconsin. A German by birth, he came to America
when a boy and on his own resources entered into a career of competi-
tion with strangers in a strange world, and fought his battle with
success. He has been a resident of Wisconsin for thirty-seven years,
and came to Tomahawk in 1887, the year in which the town was
platted and laid out. In the same year he built the Hyman building,
a two-story brick structure which is still one of the best business
blocks in the city. During twenty-six years of residence in Toma-
hawk, Mr. Hyman has served eighteen years in some public office,
filling every public place with credit and usefulness to his community.
For eight years he was mayor, for nine years he Avas on the county
board of supervisors and has also served as alderman. At the present
time he is a member of the Park Commission.

M. C. Hyman was born in Germany, November 26, 1860, a son of
Isaac and Sarah Hyman. His father is now living in the Fatherland
at the advanced age of seventy-eight. The mother has been dead for

1468 HI8T0RY OF ^YISCOXSTN

many years. Reared in Germany until he was fifteen years old, Mr.
Hyman in 1876 set out for America, and first came to halt in Chicago,
where he was employed in a store for one year. With a fair command
of the English language, and with confidence in his own ability, he
then came to Wisconsin, and began peddling jewelry and watches all
over the state, chiefly among the lumber camps of northern Wisconsin.
He spent four years in that work and during that time visited every
county in the state, and all the lumber camps, and by his genial char-
acter and square dealing made friends wherever he went.

In 1882 Mr. Hyman located at Merrill, and has ever since been a
loyal and enthusiastic citizen of Lincoln county. At Merrill he estab-
lished a wholesale and retail liquor business, and then in 1887 moved
to the new town of Tomahawk, w'here he has conducted a wholesale
liquor business. He is also extensively interested in real estate trans-
actions, buying and selling both town and farm property.

Mr. Hyman is a stockholder in the Tomahawk Stave and Heading
Company. His chief interest is real estate at the present time. Mr.
Hyman is well knowai throughout northern Wisconsin, is a good Demo-
crat, and has been a leading public spirited citizen of Lincoln county
since the early days. That Tomahaw^k has an excellent library is
largely due to Mr. Hyman who bought a great many valuable books
which he donated to the collection, and in this as in everything else
is always seeking means of benefiting his community. He has served
as mayor of Tomahawk for six years and it is the opinion of local
citizens that there is lio honor which he could not obtain from their
hands if he desired it.

The Right Reverend Jackson Kemper. In writing the story of
the life of Jackson Kemper, the first missionary bishop of the Epis-
copal Church in America, the story of the founding of the Church
in the great middle west must be given. In a sketch like this which
calls for brevity, much that is most interesting in the history of this
remarkable man must be omitted, for his life was full to the brim
of work for his church and for humanity. No one man in the church
since the time of her foundation in America has done as much for
her growth and expansion as did Bishop Kemper, and to him must
the gratitude of the people of the middle west ever go. Just to
realize that he organized six dioceses, consecrated nearly one hundred
churches, ordained over two hundred priests and deacons, and con-
firmed nearly ten thousand souls, all in a period when the section of
the country Avherein he labored was still the frontier, gives one some
idea of the great amount of work accomplished by this man.

In the little town of Caub, on the river Rhine, in Germany, there
was born, in 1706, to an army officer named Kemper, a son whom he
called Jacob, who was to become the grandfather of our bishop. As

^^Ae^>^6^ii'«^^^ -^'^c^^^xt..^^^^-^,-^

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1469

Jacob Kemper grew in years, he became possessed with the desire to own
land, for he lived in a country not long exempt from the feudal rule,
therefore he emigrated to America, and there with his wife, who was
the daughter of a Calvinistic minister, settled on a farm in Dutchess
county on the Hudson river. His farm was a small one, not at all
his ideal of what a great landed proj^rietor should own, so in 1754
he removed to New Brunswick, New Jersey, and there bought an
extensive property. Here his eldest son, Daniel, was born, and he
became prosperous until the outbreak of the Seven Years' War
brought on financial difficulties that caused him to move to New
York in 1759, the year that his youngest daughter, Susan, was born.
After removing to New York fortune once more smiled on him and
he was again successful in his business affairs.

His son, Daniel, received a good education at King's College, in
New York, for he proved to be a youth of unusual mental ability, and
at the age of twenty-tAvo he was married. Shortly after came the
outbreak of the American Revolution, and he threw himself into the
cause of the colonies, not only giving his personal services as a
colonel but also his whole fortune to the cause. He was made a mem-
ber of the Cincinnati immediately upon its foundation. He lost his
wife at the close of the war, but married again, and married a woman
who was not only capable of caring for his six young children, but
was also an excellent manager and did much to put Colonel Kemper
upon a firmer financial basis. He removed to a farm in Dutchess
county, not far from Poughkeepsie, called Pleasant Valley, and there
on Christmas Eve, 1789, the third child of his second marriage, Jack-
son Kemper was born. Shortly afterward, through his old friend
President Washington, Colonel Kemper received an appointment to
the Custom House in New York, and thither removed his family. Mrs.
Kemper had been a member of the Dutch Reformed communion, but
at the time of her marriage both she and her husband became mem-
bers of the Episcopal church. Owing to this and to the fact that his
father's sister Susan had married Dr. David Jackson, of Philadelphia,
where she was a prominent figure in the social life of the nation's
capital, the child was baptized under the name of David Jackson, by
the assistant minister of Trinity parish, Dr. Benjamin Moore. Jacob
Kemper died in 1794, at the age of eighty-eight years, living just long
enough to be remembered by his young grandson.

Little David Jackson Kemper grew up surrounded by all the
comforts of a home of wealth, at least for that period. The house
was beautifully furnished and the library gave him many hours of
delight. His mother was deeply religious and the whole family at-
tended both morning and evening prayer every Sunday at St. Paul's
Chapel, thus early introducing him to the services of the church. At
the age of twelve, he was sent to the Episcopal Academy, at Cheshire,

1470 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Connecticut, but the school, which was evidently regarded as a house
of correction by many parents, made the boy very unhappy, and in
1804 his father allowed him to return home, and he was placed under
the tutelage of the Rev. Edmund Barry. In a year he was prepared
for college and entered Columbia College, under the presidency of
Bishop Moore. He became intensel}^ absorbed in his studies and at
the end of his Sophomore year, his health was in such a bad condi-
tion that he was sent on a vacation tour through Pennsj'lvania and
New Jersey. Meanwhile his elder brother Daniel, to whom his father
was passionately devoted, a wild, reckless young fellow, had become
interested in a mad filibustering expedition in the Caribbean Sea.
His father had ruined himself, financially, in paying the debts of his
wayward son, and now the expedition had come to a tragic end, the
son was captured and put to death, and the father was completely
crushed, broken in health, and with his fortune lost. It was very
doubtful whether Jackson could finish his college course but it was
managed and he Avas graduated, valedictorian of his class, in August,
1809.

"All of his best friends had long divined his fitness for the min-
istry. The sweetness and evenness of his temper, the harmony of his
talents, his unsullied purity of character and motive, and the unbroken
course, from boyhood, of his Christian nurture had already set him
apart, in their estimation." He hesitated for a time, fearing his
unfitness, but at last his scruples quieted he began preparation under
the direction of Bishop Moore and Doctor Hobart. He was ordained
on the 11th of IMarch, the second Sunday in Lent, 1811, to the
diaconate, by Bishop William White, in St. Peter's church, Phila-
delphia, his beloved friend, Bishop Moore, being too ill to perform
the ordination.

Now begins the long period of his ministry. He preached his first
sermon in St. James church on the afternoon of ordination, and on
the following Tuesday he was called by the united parishes of Phila-
delphia to an assistaney. He had, however, a number of engagements
in New York and before these were filled, the resignation of Dr.
Blackwell, senior assistant to Bishop White, left a vacancy, which
Mr. Kemper was unanimously elected to fill. Accepting this call he
arrived in June, 1811, to take up his work. The society of Philadel-
phia was at this time the most cultured in the land, for Philadelphia
was the largest and most cosmopolitan city. At the time of his
arrival, the communicants of the three parishes that he served num-
bered two hundred, and during this year the baptisms amounted to
that number. When he could find an opportunity he went over to
Germantown and there held services, there being no church there.
He was appointed secretary of the diocesan convention at the first
meeting he attended and he was reappointed from, time to time until

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1471

1817. He was one of the active organizers in the formation, in the
spring of 1812, of the Society for the Advancement of Christianity in
Pennsylvania, and was appointed its first missionary. He started out
in August and drove all over the state, from Lancaster to York, down
to Huntington, to Pittsburgh, southward to Charleston ; everywhere
finding 'members of his church, who were gradually forgetting the
ritual and even their creed through lack of use and the absence of
clergy. He heard also that probabl}^ half of the settlers of Ohio,
Kentucky and Tennessee had been Episcopalians, and he came back
to Philadelphia, glowing with enthusiasm for the great work to be
accomplished beyond the Alleghanies.

The young minister now gave mUch of his time to study, to
Hebrew and theology. He was not great intellectually, not a great
thinker or eloquent preacher. His sermons were, however, of the
deepest sincerity and his simplicity gave him a powerful influence.
He thoroughly enjoyed the pastoral side of his work, and his kind-
ness and tenderness caused him to be deeply loved by his people. He
did not care for poetry or the drama, caring little for Shakespeare,
abhorring Byron, but was devoted to the reading of history and such
romances as Scott's. He was a Federal in politics, and disliked
Thomas Jefferson above all men. Perhaps his most charming charac-
teristic was a delightful sense of humor and a boyish light hearted-
ness and zest for living that he never lost. He was ever a lover of
nature in all her moods, and indeed of beauty in most forms.

His work in Philadeli^hia was showing strongly, for in the two
years that he had labored there an increase of fifty per cent in the
communicant roll had occurred. He Avas now placed upon the stand-
ing committee of the diocese, a post in which he served for many
years. He had now been a deacon for three years, and in Christ
church, on the 23rd of January, the third Sunday after the Epiphany,
in 1814, he was ordained to the priesthood. His health was not very
good at this time and it was decided that it was best for him to go
out on another missionary journey. He set forth in August, riding
a horse this time, and after revisiting Pittsburgh crossed the state
line, and penetrated into the northeastern corner of Ohio, known as
the Connecticut Reserve. Here he spent a good part of the autumn,
encountering conditions which he himself describes: "In the same
place which serves as kitchen, drawing-room and parlor I have slept
at night. For a month I was traveling through a country nearly
inundated by rain; the people were poor; the accommodations bad:
sometimes I was benighted and sometimes exposed to dangers." The
people were highly intelligent however, and he found many church
people scattered through the land. He helped to form several con-
gregations, and returned to Philadelphia in December, eager to east
his lot with the west. He now became interested in the eldest daugh-

1472 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

ter of General AVilliam Lyman, tlie late special consul to London, and
in 1816 they were married, an ideal marriage, but one destined to be
shortly broken by her death after two years. After three years, in.
1821, he was again married, this time to Miss Ann Relf, of a wealthy
Philadelphia family. They went to housekeeping in a house on Fifth
street, near Spruce, and here their children were born ; the eldest, a
daughter, Elizabeth Marius, in 1824, and the boys Samuel and Lewis
in 1827 and 1829, respectively. During these years he was extremely
busy in diocesan work, serving as a trustee of the General Seminary
and as a manager of the new Domestic and Foreign Missionary So-
ciety, as well as upon many committees.

Now came a period in the church life of the state that caused him
much sorrow; party feeling became rampant, and the diocese was
torn between conflicting parties. The extra or dinarj^; interest in his
preaching and his unprecedented popularity were on the wane,
though personalh' he was as much beloved as ever, for there were
many younger and more impassioned preachers now coming forward
as priests, and therefore he felt that it were better to make a change.
In 1831 Bishop Brownell of Connecticut had him called to St. Paul's
in Norwalk, one of the four most important parishes in the diocese,
and he accepted this call. He immediately became a powerful figure
in the church life of Connecticut, being placed upon the standing
committee of the diocese ; at the next meeting serving as secretary
and was elected diocesan trustee of the General Seminary. In his
own parish there was a gain of fifty per cent in the communicant list
in three years. Here in 1832, his wife died and was laid to rest in
St. Paul's churchyard, leaving him three children, the eldest only
eight.

In 1834 he took his most extended missionary journey up to this
time, going in company with James Milnor as far as Green Bay, Wis-
consin. In the year 1835 Philander Chase was chosen as Bishop of
Illinois, a diocese which contained one church building at Jackson-
ville, and thirty-nine communicants. At this time interest in the far
west had so spread among the eastern churches that Bishop Brownell
visited the section and the result of the visit was that Kemper who
had for so long been deeply interested in the work in this field was
raised to the highest office of the church. The death of his wife left
him free to take up the arduous labors of his immense field and he
was no longer burdened with the care of his parents, so on the 25th
of September, 1835, in St. Peter's, Philadelphia, he Avas consecrated
first missionary bishop of the American church, by his old diocesan
and friend, Bishop White, assisted by Bishops Channing Moore,
Philander Chase, both the Onderdonks, Bosworth Smith and Doane.

And now begins the third period in the life of this great man, the
episcopate. Shortly after his consecration he set forth for his new

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1473

diocese of Missouri and Indiana. Some description of the country
he was to work in should be given, and it can be best given in the
words of Dr. White, Avho has written such a splendid history of
Bishop Kemper's life. He says: "Those territories had been ad-
mitted to the Union as states in the years 1816 and 1818 respectively.
Up to that period the larger portion of them still owned the sway
of primeval nature ; simplest frontier conditions prevailed ; there was
a mere fringe of settlement upon their southern bound, along the
bank of the Ohio river; the bison still roamed over their grassy north-
ern savannahs, and in the woods wolves, wildcat, deer and foxes mul-
tiplied. The settlers had tO confront the red man at every turn;
even as late as 1832 they were stricken with panic at the raid of
Black Hawk. The conflicts tended to intensify the vigilant, militant
spirit, sufficiently pronounced from the first, of the hardy pioneers,
picked men of their kind. An ardent individualism was the note of
the hour, whether in religion or i^olitics, economic or social life.
Every clearing in the forest was an independent principality, pro-
ducing pretty nearly everything that was consumed upon it. It was
the log cabin age. All manner of bilious attacks, pleurisy, fever and
ague, were the plagues of those raw clearings; the plague of ague
was accompanied by the plague of whiskey.

"About one such lonesome spot amid the wet forest the following
veracious conversation between a settler and an inquiring stranger
is reported to have taken place. 'What's your place called?'
'Moggs!' 'What sort of land thereabouts?' 'Bogs.' 'What's the
climate?' 'Fogs.' 'What's your name?' 'Scroggs.' 'What's your
house built of?' 'Logs.' 'What do you eat?' 'Hogs.' 'Have you
any neighbors?' 'Frogs.' 'Gracious! Haven't you any comforts?'
'Grog.' "

Conditions after the Black Hawk insurrection was suppressed in
1832, began to improve, a better class of immigrants came in and the
development of the great middle west was really begun. Bishop
Kemper arrived in Indiana in November, 1835, and in the whole state
found only one missionary of the Episcopal communion, located at
the capital, but in the whole state there was not one church. Jour-
neying through the state the bishop at last arrived in St. Louis, Mis-
souri, in December. Here he found an organized parish and church
building, but no clergyman, in fact there were none in the whole
state. After spending the winter in Illinois, where he consecrated
the church in Jacksonville and organized a parish at Alton, he crossed
the Mississippi into Iowa and as a result, Dubuque became a site for
a mission.

Shortly afterward he made a journey to the east, where he took
part in the first consecration of a bishop, that of Samuel Allen
McCoskry, who was consecrated the first bishop of Michigan. On

1474 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

this journey, Bishop Kemper's object was to plead for men as mis-
sionaries and for the means to sustain them and to start a church col-
lege west of the Mississippi river. He was unsuccessful at first but
at last the tide turned and within twenty days he secured twenty
thousand dollars. In November of 1836 he was back again in St.
Louis and in January, 1837, an act incorporating Kemper College was
passed by the Missouri legislature. The name was given to the new
institution without his knowledge, he having chosen the title Missouri
College. The crisis of 1837 now swept the country, and affairs in the
church itself were in a troubled condition, but the optimism of the
bishop remained firm through it all. He had the satisfaction of lay-
ing the cornerstone for a church at Crawfordsville and of organizing
a parish in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the late autumn of this year
he was crossing Missouri en route for Fort Leavenworth, the most
important frontier post at the urgent request of its commander,
Colonel Kearney. His description of the trip is interesting. He
says, "Shall I tell you how we were benighted and how we lost our
way, of the deep creeks we forded and the bad bridges we crossed, —
how we were drenched to the skin and how we were wading for half-
an-hour in a slough, and the accidents that arose from the stumbling
of our horses? But these events were matters of course. What a
proof of the sluggishness of our movements is the fact that, so far as
I can learn, I am the first clergyman of our Church who has preached
at Columbia, Boonville, Fayette, Richmond, Lexington, Independence
and Fort Leavenworth, — in a word I have been the pioneer from St.
Charles up the Missouri."

When he returned to St. Louis hoping for a little rest and the
opportunity to put the affairs of his college in shape, he was met with
an urgent request from Bishop Otey to accompany him on a tour of
the southwest. So in January, 1838, he started alone, Bishop Otey
being ill, and going down the river to Memphis, he began a mag-
nificent tour, visiting Natchez, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensaeola, and
on through Georgia and Alabama, fijaally arriving at New Orleans
again in May. He had visited nearly all the parishes in Louisiana,
Alabama, Georgia and Florida, in four months time, confirming in
nearly all of them; he had consecrated eight churches and advanced
two deacons to the priesthood; what a remarkable testimony of his
vitality and enthusiasm for the work to which he had been con-
secrated.

Upon his return he again took up the work of his immense
bishopric. Wisconsin and Iowa were rittw added to his diocese and
in July, 1838, he first entered Wisconsin as its bishop. He was pres-
ently offered the bishopric of Maryland and the people of the western
states were wild with anxiety lest he should accept, but his heart was
in the west and so he refused. In 1844 came an event that lessened

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1475

somewhat the vast territoiy foi- which the Bishop was responsible,
in the ordination of Cicero Stephens Hawks as Bishop of Missouri.
Bishop Kemper had for some time felt his interest centering more
and more around Nashotah and the diocese of Wisconsin, and now
made Nashotah, which was the site of the religious house headed by
Father B"raeck, his home. In November, 1846, he for the first time
since coming to the west found himself the possessor of a home, a
riistic homestead not far from Nashotah. Here he brought his daugh-
ter, now grown to be a young lady, from Philadelphia. His father
died during this year at the age of ninety-eight and his two unmarried
sisters also came to live with him, and two years later his son, Lewis,
was graduated at Columbia College, and came to study theolog\' at
Nashotah. Once again the bishop was the center of a family and to
a man of his domestic temperament it must have been a great joy
to him.

A description of the life at Nashotah and of the growth of this
interesting community can not be given for lack of space, but Bishop
Kemper was ever a firm friend of Nashotah House. It was during
these days following the Oxford movement and at the time when
many members of the church were turning to Rome, some even of
those trained at Nashotah, that the soul of the bishop was sorely
tried. He was much pained at the party spirit that everywhere
sprang up at this time and the news of John Henry Newman's sub-
mission to Rome was a severe blow. The closing of Kemper College
in 1845 also was a bitter disappointment to him and he could never
speak of it afterward without tears in his eyes. The same lack of
money that had forced its abandonment also told severely upon the
bishop's own work. He was so hard pressed for money that for a
term of years he could not revisit the Indian territory as he so much
desired. He was very desirous of making an extensive visitation in
Iowa and the Northern territory as he called Minnesota, and in 1848
he laid the cornerstone of St. John's church in Dubuque. Under his
active direction, the church grew rapidly in this state, and at about
this time in the spring of 1848 he made his first visit to Minnesota,
going to the little village of St. Paul, and becoming enthusiastic over
the future of this territory.

In 1847 the diocese of Wisconsin had held its primary conven-
tion, twenty-one clergymen and representatives from seventeen
parishes being in attendance, a splendid showing for the bishop 's nine
years' work. The school at Nashotah was also incorporated during
this year, and at the end of this year the bishop records the fact that
there were about twenty-five young men preparing there for the min-
istry. His work for the diocese of Indiana had been at all times
unceasing, and great was his joy when on the 16th of December, 1849,
the third Sunday in Advent, he consecrated George Upfold first dio-

1476 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

eesan bishop of Indiana. How deeply beloved he was by the people of
this great state that he had served so faithfully may be seen by the
following quotation from a writer of the time: "He retires from that
scene of his missionary labors, with the high consciousness of having
long willingly rendered severe, self-sacrificing and disinterested serv-
ices, unrequited, except by honor and affection, — followed by the rever-
ence and respect, the love and best wishes and prayers of all. ' '

Bishop Kemper now turned with more time at his disposal to the
building up of the church in Wisconsin. Churches were built at Fond
du Lac and Manitowoc and a church college was established at Racine.
But his eyes were ever turned Avestward ; he saw so clearly the vision
of what that great country was to become. As a rule he made two
visitations a year to Iowa and Minnesota, and his interest in the mis-
sion work that was being done in the latter territory among the Indians
was always very deej). By 1854 he had laid the corner stones of'five
churches in Minnesota, and beside two army chaplains he had six
clergymen at work in the territory. In Iowa he was even more active
than in Minnesota. In many of the larger towns churches were built
and the bishop must have felt encouraged as he drove from place to
place in an old buckboard, enduring all sorts of hardships with perfect
quietude. He was so very unassuming that when helped to "chicken
fixin's, " he would never express a preference, so he usually received a
leg. At last when this happened toward the end of one trip his com-
panion who was traveling over the state with him burst out: "Do give
the bishop a bit of breast, or we shall have him running all over the
prairies; he's had nothing but legs this whole journey!"

The Rev. Hugh Miller Thompson, one of the bishop's deacons, gives
the following account of a winter visitation in Wisconsin: "On Mon^
day I was to take the Bishop to Baraboo. The river had frozen again,
and he was expected at night. The thermometer was fifteen degrees
below zero. The ride was seventeen miles, most of it along the banks
of a frozen river and over a bare prairie, with the wind blowing bitterly
the wrong way, right in our teeth. We could only get an open buggy ;
but the bishop was ready at eight a. m. to face the prairie. He
preached twice, confirmed twice, and administered the communion;
and having been on his feet till nine or ten at night, might be called
pretty good for a sexagenarian. We bundled 'the buffaloes' as best
we might, and started and after a ' spicy ' ride, with the icicles hanging
round our faces, arrived in Baraboo. . . . The Bishop has an appoint-
ment for to-night at Madison, and after seeing him in the 'express' to
ride again forty miles in this bitter weather, over the 'bluffs' and
preach in another vacant parish when he has performed the journey, I
rode home alone, feeling that not one of his clergy should dare com-
plain.'' What an inspiration the bisliop must have been!

In 1854, Bishop Kemper was able to report at the general conven-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1477

tion that in Iowa there were three consecrated churches and two more
nearly ready for consecration, eleven clergymen and a call for another
one in the village of Des Moines. He asked in the name of the
people of the diocese that a bishop be chosen; Henry Washington Lee
was thus selected and on the 18th of October, 1854, was consecreated,
first bishop of Iowa. It was the only consecration of a diocesan bishop
for any of his missionary sees in which Bishop Kemper had no part.
It was during this year that Bishop Kemper was for the second time
elected diocesan of Wisconsin, and he now accepted, having previously
refused, but with the understanding that he should not resign his mis-
sionary jurisdiction.

From this time until 1859 the bishop was travelling hither and yon,
working much in Minnesota, and visiting many times the remote terri-
tories of Kansas and Nebraska. His own diocese of Wisconsin was
growing steadily ; he had penetrated to its northernmost corner, Supe-
rior, and had there established a church, and he had repeatedly vis-
ited ]Marquette, across the border in Michigan. In 1859 Bishop Kemper
presided at a diocesan convention in Minnesota to elect a bishop for
that rapidly growing state. Henry Benjamin Whipple was elected and
was consecrated in Richmond, Virginia, at the time of the general con-
vention, in October, 1859, by Bishop Kemper and others. At this
great meeting, the bishop made the following speech : "I now, with
deep emotion tender to the Church my resignation of the office of Mis-
sionary Bishop, which, vmsought for and entirely unexpected, was
conferred upon me twenty-four years ago. Blessed with health, and
cheered by the conviction of duty, I have been enabled to travel at all
seasons through Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota
and partly through Kansas and Nebraska." He felt that he was grow-
ing old and that a younger man should be put in his place. The general
convention could do no less than accept his resignation for he had
indeed labored long and faithfully. The result of his work was sum-
marized by the committee on domestic missions as follows: "When
Bishop Kemper was appointed Missionary Bishop, in 1835, with juris-
diction over Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa, neither of which
was an organized diocese, there Avas but one of our clerg.y and one
church in Missouri, one clergyman and one church in Indiana, and
neither church nor clergyman in Wisconsin or Iowa. Twenty-four
years have passed awaj^ and by God's blessing on the Church, he now
sees Missouri a Diocese, with its Bishop and twenty-seven clergy ;
Indiana, a Diocese, with its Bishop and twenty-five clergy ; Iowa a
Diocese with its Bishop and thirty-one clergy ; Minnesota an organized
Diocese, with twenty clergy ; Kansas but just organized as a Diocese,
with ten clergy and the territory of Nebraska, not yet organized as a
Diocese, with four clergy ; in all six Dioceses, where he began with

1478 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

none, and one hundred and seventy-two clergymen where he was at
first sustained by only two."

And so the old bishop went back to his own diocese of Wiscon-
sin, there to live the remainder of his life in the service of his beloved
people. The Civil war hurt him deeply and he felt most keenly the
separation of the church for the time into two parts. In the year
1866, the election of an assistant to aid him in his diocesan work
was carried out, and the choice fell upon William Edmund Armitage,
of Detroit, and he was consecrated by Bishop Kemper and the assist-
ing Bishops on the 6th of December, 1866. This was the eleventh
and last consecration in which the venerable bishop took part. He
had thought that the general convention in 1865 would be the last
that he could attend, but he was also able to attend the one in 1868,
and once again revisit his old friends in New York. In 1869 he pre-
sided over his diocesan convention with his assistant bishop at his
side and surrounded by sixty-eight clergy, the last time that his
venerable figure, his benignant countenance, crowned with his snow
white hair, was to appear. He went directly afterward to consecrate
the cathedral church of Our Merciful Saviour at Faribault, which
was the second cathedral in America. After this journey he returned
home and lived quietly making a few journeys in his own diocese,
but not going again beyond its borders. He died early in the after-
noon of Tuesday, May the 24th, 1870, and was buried from the chapel
at Nashotah. Six bishops, seventy clergymen, and over two thou-
sand people followed his body to the grave. It is difficult for us to
realize the veneration felt for Bishop Kemper by the whole church
in those closing days of his life. There has been nothing like it seen
since, and in the commonwealth of Wisconsin, men of every class
well nigh worshiped him. As Dr. White says "He could travel
about the state for weeks without its costing him a cent, for people
would not take payment from him for conveyance and entertain-
ment. The rough lumbermen of the backwoods would stand with
uncovered heads waiting for him to saj^ grace before they would sit
down to eat. And this sentiment was deepened by proximity; those
who knew him best revered him most. The community at Nashotah
and every one in the neighborhood, down to domestics and laborers
in the fields, felt for him afl'ection mingled with awe ; and Renan has
well said that the judgment of one's humblest friends in respect to
character is almost always that of God."

We quote the following passages from the memorial address given
at the meeting of the diocesan convention the following June, by Dr.
Hugh Miller Thompson: "There are deaths that come upon us with
the sense of a completed harmony, when the work is done, when the
story is all told, when the long, full day's travel is finished. They
are deaths to thank God for^ — these deaths that end a long and fruit-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1479

ful life with a perfect close. They come with the calmness of sum-
mer sunsets that end the day, with the dreamy regret of the Indian
summer that ends the year. They seem to belong to the diviner har-
monies of the other world, to be visitations of God's eternal order
here among the uncertainties and confusions of time.

"It is such a death we commemorate here in this memorial serv-
ice and I believe there is no one present who does not thank God that
it came to our departed father. . . .

"For nearly sixty years, Bishop Kemper served at the altar. For
nearly thirty-five of those sixty years he was a bishop. His active
life covered a period of the greatest changes in his own country and
the world, his whole life nearly the entire history of the American
episcopate.

' ' Our witness, though man 's witness is nothing to him now, is that
he bore himself right manfully, loyally and faithfully, as a true
Bishop and example for the flock, and that the memory of his faith-
ful life is a precious legacy to us and to our children, for all time
to come."

"Wonderful tributes were paid him by his brother bishops, who
felt as no one else could feel, the wonder of the work he had done.
Bishop Vail said : ' ' His life furnishes a most important link, not only
in the history of our American church but in the history of the Church
Catholic of this age, as it develops its grand missionary work for the
benefit of the world."

To quote again from Dr. White: "And so the great central
luminary, having thrown off successive rings of planetary dioceses,
had sunk to rest, without a cloud to dim his disk. The Christian
Odyssey of the great West was over, and its lakes and streams, and
plains knew him no more. The Napoleon of spiritual empire had
passed away — and who would not prefer Kemper's crown to Bona-
parte's? The missionary bishop of a jurisdiction greater than any
since the days of the apostles,— and St. Paul himself had not travelled
as widely and as long, for Kemper had gone three hundred thou-
sand miles on his Master's service, — has gone to his reward. Well
had his life borne out the meaning of his name: 'Kemper, A
Champion.' "

Jackson B. Kemper. It has been given Mr. Kemper to achieve
marked distinction and precedence as one of the representative mem-
bers of the bar of his native state and in the city of Milwaukee he
is a member of the well known law firm of Bloodgood, Kemper &
Bloodgood. one of the most important in the metropolis of the state,
with offices in the Mitchell building. An illustrious ancestral her-
itage is that of Mr. Kemper, and his appreciation of the same stands
in justification of the consistent statement of Macaulay to the effect

1480 HISTORY OP WISCONSIN

that "A people that takes no pride iu the noble achievements of
remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remem-
bered with pride by remote descendants." The name which he bears
has been one distinguished in connection with the annals of Wiscon-
sin history and those of the nation, and on the distaff side the ancestral
record is equally interesting and worthy. In his character and accom-
plishment Mr. Kemper has honored the family name, and he is
specially entitled to specific recognition in this publication.

Jackson Bloodgood Kemper was born at Nashotah, Waukesha
county, Wisconsin, on the 25th of January, 1865, and is the only child
of Rev. Lewis A. Kemper, D. D., and Anna (Bloodgood) Kemper.
His father was a son of Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, a distinguished
prelate of the Protestant Episcopal church and bishop of the diocese
of Wisconsin at the time of his death. On other pages of this work
is entered a memoir to Bishop Kemper, so that further data concern-
ing him are not demanded in the present connection.

Rev. Lewis A. Kemper, D. D., was born iu the city of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, on the 19th of July, 1829, and he passed the closing
years of his life at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where he was summoned
to eternal rest on the 27th of April, 1886. His cherished and devoted
wife w^as born at Houlton, Aroostook county, Maine, on the 30th of
January, 1833, and she died, at Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the 28th of
September, 1886. The founder of the American bi-anch of the Kem-
per family came from Germany in 1740, and his son Daniel, great-
grandfather of him whose name initiates" this sketch, served as a
colonel of a patriot regiment of the continental forces in the war of
the Revolution. He was thereafter a member of the Society of the
Cincinnati, to which only those who had been officers in the Revolu-
tionary struggle were eligible. Kemper Hall, a girls' boarding school
maintained at Kenosha, Wisconsin, under the auspices of the Protes-
tant Episcopal church, was named in honor of Rt. Rev. Jackson Kem-
per, whose name is one of the most distinguished in connection with
the early history of the Episcopal church in Wisconsin. Daniel R.
Kemper, a brother of the Bishop, was one of a company of young men
who, in 1805, went to South America for the purpose of tendering
their aid in securing independence to the citizens of Venezuela. They
were captured by the Spanish forces and met their death by shooting,
as a result of their ardent espousal of the revolutionary cause. Within
a recent period the patriotic citizens of Venezuela have erected a fine
bronze monument in memory of these gallant young Americans.

Rev. Lewis A. Kemper, D. D., became one of the leading clergy-
men of the Episcopal church in Wisconsin and was specially promi-
nent in connection with its educational work. He was professor of
Hebrew and Greek in Nashotah Theological Seminary for thirty years
and was one of the best loved and most honored members of the

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1481

faculty of this institution. In later years he served also as rector of
Zion church at Oconomowoc, in connection with his work in the theo-
logical seminary. He was graduated in Columbia University as a
member of the class of 1849, and after his ordination to the priest-
hood his services were almost entirely centered in Wisconsin during
the residue of his long and useful life, which was one of signal con-
secration. He was one of the leading representatives of his church
in this state and had much to do with its various activities. He was a
valued member of the diocesan standing committee and a frequent
delegate to the general conventions of the church as represented in
its organic body in the United States. In 1874 his name was brought
forward in a prominent way in connection with advancement to the
bishopric, and had he consented become a candidate he would un-
doubtedly have been elected to this high office, one which had been
signally dignified by his honored father.

In the maternal, line Jackson B. Kemper, to whom this review is
dedicated, is of the eighth generation in descent from Francis Blood-
good, who came from Amsterdam, Holland, in 1658, and settled at
Flushing, Long Island, the original orthography of his name having
been Francois Bloetgoet. Concerning the family history adequate data
appear on other pages of this work, in the sketch of the career of
Francis Bloodgood, uncle of him whose name initiates the article here
presented.

After due preliminary discipline Jackson B. Kemper entered
Racine College, at Racine, Wisconsin, in which institution he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1884 and from which he received
the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts. In 1886 he began the
study of law in the office and under the effective preceptorship of his
uncle, Francis Bloodgood, in Milwaukee, and in 1888, upon examina-
tion before the state board of law examiners, he was admitted to the
bar of his native state. He was forthwith admitted also to partner-
ship in the law business of his uncle and cousin, under the title of
Bloodgood, Bloodgood & Kemper. In 1893 William J. Turner, who is
now presiding on the bench of the circuit court of Milwaukee county
and who is individually represented in this publication, became a
member of the firm, the title of which was thereupon changed to
Turner, Bloodgood & Kemper. In 1896 Judge Turner retired from
the alliance and Wheeler P. Bloodgood, son of Francis Bloodgood,
became a member of the firm, the business of which has since been
conducted under the title of Bloodgood, Kemper & Bloodgood. The
firm controls a large and representative practice and Mr. Kemper has
long held precedence as a trial lawyer of distinctive versatility and
resourcefulness and as a counselor admirably fortified in the minutiae
of the science of jurisprudence. He has appeared in connection with
many important causes, and it may be specially noted that he repre-

1482 HISTORY OP WISCONSIN

sented the trustees of the estate of the late Hon. Harrison Ludington,
former governor of Wisconsin, in the cases brought for the construc-
tion of the will of the governor. He was also representative of the
trustees of the estate in the subsequent litigation with the widow of
Governor Ludington, and concerning this and other important litiga-
tions with which the firm of Bloodgood, Kemper & Bloodgood has
been concerned, further mention is made in the sketch of the career of
Francis Bloodgood, elsewhere in this volume. Especial reference is
there made to the cases connected with the bank failure in Milwaukee
incidental to the panic of 1893, and the heavy bankruptcy cases with
which the firm has been identified since the passage of the present
national bankruptcy laws.

In politics Mr. Kemper has always been a moderate Republican,
but he has deemed his profession worthy of his undivided attention,
has subordinated all else to its demands and thus has not cared to
enter the arena of so called practical politics or to become a candi-
date for public office. He is identified with the Wisconsin State Bar
Association and the Milwaukee County Bar Association, both he and
his wife are zealous communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church,
and he is a member of the Milwaukee Club, the University Club, the
Milwaukee Country Club and the Town Club, representative organiza-
tions of his home city. His attractive residence is located at 450
Lafayette Place, and the same is a center of gracious hospitality.

On the 3d of March, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Kemper to Miss Luella Greer, daughter of William T. Greer, a promi-
nent citizen of Louisville, Kentucky, and Mrs. Kemper is a popular
figure in connection with the representative social activities of Mil-
waukee.

F. R. Bentley. One of the ablest combinations of legal talent in
the Sauk county bar is that of Bentley, Kelley & Hill, attorneys and
counsellors at law at Baraboo. Mr. Bentley, the senior member, has
an experience of twenty-one years in practice at Baraboo, and his father
before him was one of the most esteemed of all the older lawyers in this
section. The Bentley family was established in central Wisconsin about
sixty years ago, when all this country was new and almost undeveloped,
and its record has been one of important professional service, and good
citizenship in every community of its residence.

F. R. Bentley was born August 8, 1869. in Sauk county, a son of
Monroe and Susan (Booth) Bentley, the latter a native of England.
The father, who was born at Binghamton, New York, April 9, 1836,
was a grandson of a soldier of the War of 1812 killed in the battle of
Plattsburg. Monroe Bentley and his father, Ephraim and an only
brother all served in the Civil war, the father and brother both being
killed while in the service. From New York the family moved to

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1483

LaGrange county, Indiana, which remained their home many years,
and Monroe Bentley was a boy in that county and graduated from the
LaGrange Collegiate Institute in 1853. About that time or a little
after the family moved from Indiana to Wisconsin, locating at Poynette,
in Columbia county. Monroe Bentley taught school at Poynette and
vicinity for ten wdnters. In 1866 he moved to Baraboo, studied law
with C. C. Remington, and was admitted to the bar in 1878. His promi-
nence in public aifairs had begun some time before and he had served
two years as chairman of the board of township supervisors. For ten
years he served the village of Baraboo in different official capacities, and
at the' time of his death was the oldest practicing lawyer in that city.
\Yith a substantial knowledge of the law he combined a large experience
and thorough judgment which entitled him to the confidence of his fel-
lowmen. He won a reputation for quiet wisdom and was a sort of legal
adviser for almost the entire JCommunit3^ He was a strong temperance
advocate ; in politics a Republican. During the closing years of his life,
from 1892 on, his sou F. R. Bentley was his partner under the firm name
of Bentley & Bentley.

Mr. F. R. Bentley grew up in Baraboo, graduated from the Baraboo
high school in 1886 and started out to make his own way as a telegraph
operator. His service in that line was largely on the Madison division
of the Northwestern Railway. Later going west, he lived in Seattle,
Washington, for three years, and w^hile there took a law course for two
years. His return to Baraboo in 1891, was followed by a continuation
of his studies until admitted to the bar in 1892. He immediately became
associated in practice Avith his father. In 1902 John ^l. Kelly joined
him in practice, and to that firm in 1910 James H. Hill added his mem-
bership ; the firm of Bentley, Kelly & Hill enjoy a large and extensive
practice in the state and federal courts. ^Ir. Bentley during his years
of practice as a lawyer has also been connected with several local business
enterprises.

His prominence in Republican politics has made him known through-
out the entire state, and he has worked energetically for the good of the
party, in a number of recent campaigns. During the Roosevelt cam-
paign of 1904, he was secretary of the State National Republican cam-
paign, with its headquarters in Milwaukee, where he remained about
five months, giving all his time and energy to the conduct of the cam-
paign. From 1896 to 1900 he served as district attorney for Sauk
county. March 6, 1907, he was appointed by President Roosevelt as Col-
lector of Internal Revenue for Second District of Wisconsin, which
office he held for nearly five years. Fraternally Mr. Bentley is a Knight
Templar Mason, belonging to Baraboo Commandery, No. 28, and has
gone through all the chairs of the Order of the Knights of Pythias.

On November 10, 1892, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Mr. Bentley mar-
ried ]\Iiss Emma H. Emerson, daughter of Joseph and Susan Emer-

1484 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

son. They had one daughter, Jessie E., born September 18, 1896, who
died June 4, 1903.

Solon Louis Perrin. A member of the Wisconsin bar since 1881
and since 1895 a resident at Superior, Mr. Perrin has been at different
times general or special counsel for some of the larger corporations of
his home city and state ; has had a large practice in all the state courts
and his attainments as a well read, careful and conscientious lawyer
have given him a leading position among Wisconsin attorneys.

Solon Louis Perrin is a native of AVisconsin, and belongs to one of
the pioneer families. He was born at Kinnikinnick, St. Croix county,
March 17, 1859, the oldest in the family of William Louis and Julia
Frances (Loring) Perrin. Grandfather John Perrin, a native of Ver-
mont, moved to New York when a young man, and was for many years
a farmer in that state. William Louis Perrin was born at Malone,
Franklin county, New York, in 1825. In 1851, he came with his brother
James Perrin, to St. Croix county, Wisconsin, and was one of the early
settlers in that vicinity. His interests also identified him with public
affairs, and in addition to various township offices, he was from 1875
to 1879 county clerk of St. Croix county. The year 1883 marked his
retirement from active affairs, at which time he moved to River Falls,
and in 1895 came to Superior to live with his son, until his death in
1907 at the age of eighty-two years. In politics he was a Democrat, and
was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In this state
occurred his marriage to Miss Loring, who was born in Shirley, Maine,
in 1839. She died in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1894. Of the five chil-
dren one died in infancy. Miss Loring came to Wisconsin in 1856, with
her brother, sisters and widowed mother, the family settling in St. Croix
county.

Solon L. Perrin was educated in the public schools of Kinnikinnick,
was a student for a time in the high school at Hudson, and at the age
of eighteen began the study of law in the offices of Baker & Spooner at
Hutchinson. The junior member of that firm was John C. Spooner,
later United States senator from Wisconsin. While a law student, Mr.
Ferrin acted as assistant clerk of the assembly, during the sessions of
1879 and 1880. Beginning with the fall of 1880 his studies were pur-
sued in the University of Wisconsin, where he was graduated LL. B.
in June, 1881. Until 1895 his work as a lawyer was with the legal
department of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad.
Since that time he has had charge of the local business of the company
in Superior. Mr. Perrin is also attorney for the Inter-state Transfer
Railway Company, and has a large private practice and his services
have been retained in many of the most important eases tried in the
local courts. In 1897 he was appointed one of the receivers of the Su-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1485

perior Consolidated Land Company. Since the reorganization of the
compatiy in the spring of 1902, he has been its president and attorney.

In 1902 Mr. Perrin became a candidate for the office of state senator,
and before the convention the vote was tied at five hundred ballots. Mr.
Perrin withdrew his name and threw his support to one of his opponents.
His politics have always been Republican. Fraternally his relations
are with Superior Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks and with the Masonic Order in which he has taken thirty-two
degrees of the Scottish Rite, and has membership in the Lodge and
Chapter at Hudson, the Palladin Commandery at St. Paul, the Wiscon-
sin Consistory, and the Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine in Mil-
waukee. As a lawyer Mr. Perrin has won recognition for his fine legal
attainments, his fidelity to professional duty, and his able administra-
tion of all interests entrusted to his care. His offices at Superior are in
the Bank of Commerce Building.

In 1888 Mr. Perrin married Miss Elizabeth G. Staples, of St. Paul,
Minnesota. She was born at Hudson, Wisconsin, a daughter of Silas
and Nancy (Oilman) Staples, both natives of Maine. Their two chil-
dren are : Florence Elizabeth and Jane Louis.

Carl B. Rix was born in Washington county, Wisconsin, on Sep-
tember 30, 1878, and is the son of Wareham P. and ]Marie L. (StauflPer)
Rix. The father was born in Stanstead county, Quebec, on May 19,
1844, while the mother is a native of Washington county. Wareham
P. Rix is of pure English parentage on his paternal side and of Swiss
and German on the maternal side. The first ancestor of the family
was John Rix, who came from England to Boston, Massachusetts, in
1836, and the maternal grandparents of the subject came to America
in 1850, coming west soon thereafter and settling in Washington county.

Carl B. Rix was educated in the public schools of West Bend and
at Georgetown University. He was graduated from the high school
of West Bend with the class of 1895, after which event he taught
school in the county until 1900, when he received an appointment to a
position in the Department of the Interior at Washington, D. C. While
there he attended the school of law at the Georgetown University,
from which he was graduated with the class of 1903, receiving at that
time the degree of LL. B., and after one year of post-graduate work
he received the degree of LL. M. In 1905 Mr. Rix commenced his
practice in Milwaukee, and here he has since been engaged in a general
practice. He is associated in practice with John M. Barney, under the
firm name of Rix & Barney.

Mr. Rix is a member of the faculty of the College of Law of Mar-
quette University of this city, where he is well and favorably known
both to the profession at large and to a wide circle of friends and
clients. Politically Mr. Rix is a Republican, but not a politician in

1486 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

the accepted sense ol the term, aud he is a member of the Milwaukee
Bar Association. Fraternally he is affiliated with tlie Masonic order,
and he still retains membership in his college fraternity. Delta Chi.

On September 30, 1907, Mr. Rix was married to Miss Sara Barney,
the daughter of Judge Samuel S. Barney, of West Bend, Wisconsin.
They have one child, Ellen Sybil, born July 5, 1911.

Hawley W. Wilbur. The beautiful little city of Waukesha, judicial
center of the county of the same name, is favored in having at the
head of its municipal government so progressive, loyal and public-
spirited a citizen as its present mayor, whose name initiates this re-
view and who is one of the representative business men of the younger
generation in Waukesha, where his popularity is fully attested by his
official preferment.

Mr. Wilbur was born at Burlington, Racine county, Wisconsin,
on the 10th of November, 1882, and is a son of George H. and Jennie
M. (Hawley) Wilbur, the former of whom was born in the state of
New York and the latter in Indiana. George H. Wilbur was a valiant
soldier of the Union in the Civil war. On the 27th of August, 1861, he
enlisted as a member of Company D, Ninth Indiana Volunteer In-
fantry, and he forthwith proceeded with his command to the front.
In 1863 he was promoted second lieutenant. He continued in active
service, a faithful and gallant young soldier, until the expiration of
his term of enlistment aud was mustered out in September, 1864, duly
receiving his honorable discharge. His record was such as to reflect
enduring honor upon him and his continued interest in his old com-
rades in arms is shown by his active and appreciative affiliation with
the Grand Army of the Republic. He participated in many spirited
engagements marking the progress of the great conflict through which
the integrity of the Union was preserved and was ever found at the
post of duty. Early in 1862 his regiment was in service in western
Virginia, and then it was transferred to the Army of the Ohio, with
which, in the command of General Buell, it participated in the memora-
ble battle of Shiloh and other engagements. Thereafter Mr. Wilbur
was with his regiment in the Mississippi and Atlanta campaigns and
took part in many of the important battles incidental to these manoeu-
vers of the Federal forces.

After the close of the war George H. Wilbur came to Wisconsin
and established his residence at Burlington, where he engaged in the
retail lumber business. He eventually expanded his operations to
wide scope and in 1885 efilected the organization of the Wilbur Lum-
ber Company, which is incorporated under the laws of the state and
which at the present time operates seventeen branch establishments,
located at various points in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. The com-
pany also has a large and well equipped sash and door factory, the

^^^ft^My ffPUtS^

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1487

same being located in the city of Milwaukee, and the business of the
concern is now one of great volume and marked prosperity. Richard
W. Houghton is president of the company ; Joseph Kerwer, vice-presi-
dent; and George H. Wilbur, secretary and treasurer. Employment
is given to one hundred men in the various departments of the thriv-
ing industrial enterprise, and the secretary and treasurer of the com-
pany still maintains his home at Waukesha where he and his wife are
held in highest esteem.

The present mayor of Waukesha attended the public schools and
Carroll College of Waukesha and for three years was a student in the
University of Wisconsin. Soon after leaving the university he became
a clerk in the office of the Wilbur Lumber Company, at Burlington,
and later he was made manager of the retail business of the company
in that place. He was next transferred to the position of manager of
the branch at Dixon, Illinois, where he remained until 1907, when he
assumed the management of the company's business at Waukesha, in
which city he has since maintained his home and in which he has
gained impregnable vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem.
In 1912 Mr. Wilbur engaged in the ice and fuel business on his own
responsibility. In this line he has built up a most prosperous enter-
prise, which is constantly expanding, and he is known as one of the
most aggressive and alert young business men of the city of which he
is mayor. He is an active and valued member of the Waukesha Busi-
ness Men's Association, which is doing much to promote civic and
material progress in the city, and in politics he is unswerving in his
allegiance to the Republican party. In April, 1912, Mr. Wilbur was
elected mayor of Waukesha, receiving a gratifying majority at the
polls, and he is giving a most effective administration of municipal
affairs, with progressive policies and proper conservatism in the ex-
penditure of public funds.

On the 6th of December, 1906, Mr. Wilbur was united in marriage
to Miss Avis A. Dement, daughter of Chas. H. Dement, a prominent
business man of Dixon, Illinois, and the three children of this union
are George H., Hawley W., Jr., and Charles R. Mayor and Mrs. Wil-
bur are factors in the social activities of Waukesha.

John Mulva. While claiming no gifts of prophetic order, the pres-
ent able and popular mayor of the city of Oshkosh, Winnebago county,
gives denial, through the high esteem in which he is held in his native
place, to all possibility of any figurative application of the scriptural
statement that ''a prophet is not without honor save in his own coun-
try." He has given a most progressive and effective administration
as chief executive of the municipal government of Oshkosh, where
his service in this capacity has not been limited to that of his present
term. He has been one of the most influential factors in connection

1488 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

with city affairs during more tlian a decade and no citizen holds more
secure place in popular confidence and esteem.

John Mulva was born in Oshkosh on the 22d of February, 1860,
and is a son of Patrick and Ann (Martin) Mulva, both of whom were
born in Ireland. They were numbered among the sterling pioneers
of Wisconsin, as is evident when it is stated that they came to this
state in 1850. They first located in Milwaukee, where they remained
until 1854, when they removed to Oshkosh, where they passed the
residue of their lives, the father having here been actively engaged
as a laboring man for many years and having been a citizen whose
sterling character and genial and kindly personality won to him un-
qualified popular esteem. He died in the year 1905, and his cherished
Avife was summoned to the life eternal on the 20th of April, 1912, both
having been devout communicants of the Catholic church. Of the seven
children two sons and four daughters are living, the present mayoi
of Oshkosh having been the second in order of birth.

Public schools of Oshkosh afforded Mayor Mulva his early educa-
tional advantages and he was graduated in the high school as a mem-
ber of the class of 1878. In the following year he was graduated in
the Oshkosh Business College, after which he was for two years in
the employ of the Joseph P. Gould Manufacturing Company, one of
the leading industrial concerns of his native city at that time. For
ten years thereafter he was a valued attache of the Conley Lumber
Company, with which he was promoted to the responsible office of
superintendent, in 1884. Upon resigning this office he went to Daven-
port, Iowa, where he remained one year, in the employ of the George
Otte Company, manufacturers of sash, doors and blinds. He then re-
turned to Oshkosh, where he entered the employ of S. Radford &
Brothers, in the same line of enterprise. He became superintendent
for this concern and continued the able and valued incumbent of this
office until the spring of 1912, since which time his entire time and at-
tention have been virtually engrossed by his executive duties in the
mayoralty and his private business interests.

As a young man Mr. Mulva began to take a deep interest in public
affairs of a local order and his loyalty to his native city has ever been
of the most insistent type. He has been an influential factor in the
ranks of the Democratic party and has given efl'ective service in be-
half of its cause, the while he has served as delegate to its conventions
in his home county for a score of years, as well as to its state con-
ventions in Wisconsin. He served continuously as president of the
city council from 1895 to 1900, in which latter year the council elected
him mayor, to fill out the unexpired term of James H. Merrill, who
died while in office. In the regular city election of 1901 Mr. Mulva
rolled up a most gratifying majority at the polls and became mayor
of the city through popular support. In 1903 he was re-elected and

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN . 1489

his service continued until 1908. Public appreciation of his prior
administrations led to his being again called to the mayoralty in the
election of 1912, and his record in this office has been one most cred-
itable to himself and of great value to the city, which now has the
commission form of government. Mr. Mulva served continuously as
representative of the third, ninth, sixth and thirteenth wards in the
city council from 1888 to 1900, and initiated his work as a member
of this municipal body when he was twenty-eight years of age. Both
in an official capacity and through private influence and enterprise,
Mr. Mulva has put forth the most zealous and effective efforts in pro-
moting the civic and material progress and prosperity of his home city
and his public spirit has been on a parity with his loyalty and high
civic ideals. He is a stockholder and director of the South Side Ex-
change Bank, of which he served as vice-president from 1898 to 1900,
and he has been specially active and successful in the handling of and
improving of local real estate. He was one of the principal figures in
effecting the organization of the Oshkosh Loan & Investment Com-
pany, of which he was secretary, and this concern, during its eighteen
years of active operations, exercised most important and benignant
functions in enabling those in moderate financial circumstances to
obtain homes of their own. Mr. Mulva has in an individual way im-
proved much local realty and has made a specialty of extending
financial loans in connection with^ home building, his operations in
this line having been effective in furthering the material and social
welfare of Oshkosh and in assisting those whose resources were such
that otherwise they would not have been able to become home-owners,
- — a condition greatly to be desired in every community. He is also a
stockholder in the Oshkosh Trust Company.

The mayor of Oshkosh clings to the religious faith in which he
was reared and is a communicant of the Catholic church, the great
mother organization of all Christendom. He is affiliated with the
Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, the Catholic Knights of Amer-
ica, the Knights of Columbus, the Independent Order of Foresters
and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

The attractive home of Mayor Mulva is known for its generous
hospitality and ideal relations, and has a gracious chatelaine in the
person of Mrs. Mulva. On the 22d of November, 1894, was solem-
nized the marriage of Mr. Mulva to Miss Mary Fitzsimmons, daughter
of M. J. Fitzsimmons, a representative citizen of Fond du Lac, this
state.

Alfred W. Jones. No other agency has been so influential in fur-
thering the prestige of Waukesha and in bringing about its development
as a health resort and most attractive residence city as that involved
in the exploitation of the wonderful Bethesda water, and as president

1490 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

of the Bethesda Mineral Spring Company Alfred W. Jones is proving
a most able and progressive executive of this important corporation,
even as he is also one of the most popular and influential citizens of
Waukesha. He succeeded his distinguished father in the presidency of
the company mentioned and he has effectively carried forward the work
which the latter developed to one of great importance in bringing to
public attention the great remedial values of the Bethesda water. The
Chicago Inter Ocean has made the following pertinent statement, the
significance of which is prima facie ; ' ' The reputation of Waukesha has
been gained by the curative properties of Bethesda and the best evidence
of the value of the spring is found in the number of imitations follo^ving
in its footsteps and trading upon the name it has acquired."

Hon. Alfred Miles Jones, father of him whose name introduces this
article, was born at New Durham, New Hampshire, on the 5th of Feb-
ruary, 1837, and he died at his home in AVaukesha, AVisconsin, on the
8th of July, 1910. He was a son of Alfred S. and Rebecca (Miles)
Jones, and his father was a true type of the sturdy New England farmer,
the mother a representative of the old and prominent Miles family of
Connecticut. When Alfred M. was about ten years of age the family
removed to McHenry county, Illinois, and he remained on the home
farm, near Hebron, that county, until he had attained to the age of six-
teen years, in the meanwhile having availed himself of the advantages
of the common schools of the locality and period. At the age noted he
went to the pine forests of Michigan where he was employed for a time,
and thereafter he passed about one year rafting on the Mississippi river.
He made judicious use of the money which he earned, as he entered an
academic institution at Roekford, Illinois, in which he was graduated in
1856. In the following year he engaged in the jewelery and stationery
business at AVarren, Jo Daviess county, Illinois, but he soon disposed of
his little stock and went to Pike's Peak, Colorado, where the gold excite-
ment was then at its height. Prospects did not prove inviting and he
soon returned to Warren, Illinois, where he obtained employment. He
was engaged in the sale of farming implements for five years and then
turned his attention to the real-estate business and the practice of law.
He was called upon to serve in various public offices of local order and
became one of the leaders in the ranks of the Republican party in Jo
Daviess county, where he served eight years as chairman of the county
central committee. From 1872 to 1874, inclusive, he represented the
county in the state legislature, and he was the acknowledged Republican
leader in the session of 1874. It was at this time that he received the
title of "Long Jones," under which he became widely known. He was
more than six feet five inches in height and the title was given him to
distinguish him from Representative Jones, of Massac county, with the
result that the pseudonym ever afterward clung to him, the same having

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1491

appealed to his sense of humor and having been rather pleasing to him
than otherwise.

After retiring from the legislature, Mr. Jones served as a commis-
sioner of the state penitentiary at Joliet and was secretary of the board
for three years. President Hayes then appointed him collector of in-
ternal revenue at Sterling, Illinois, and later President Garfield ap-
pointed him United States marshal for the northern district of that state,
with headquarters in the city of Chicago. He held this office until June
30, 1885, and for fourteen years he was a member of the Republican
state central committee, having been chairman of the body for twelve
of these years. Concerning his prominence and influence in political
activities the following statements have been made : ' ' One of the triumphs
of which he and his friends were justly proud was that gained in the
manoeuvering of forces at his command in 1878, when General John
A. Logan was elected to the United States senate, Mr. Jones having at
the time been chairman of the state central committee of his party in
Illinois. For his effective efforts in this connection his admirers pre-
sented him with a handsome silver service, as a token of appreciation.
The last two times General Logan was elected to the senate, Mr. Jones
who was his warm personal friend, had charge of the campaign work
and A)vas distinctively successful. He was in charge of the Harrison
forces in the Republican national convention of 1892, at Minneapolis,
when President Harrison was renominated. ' '

On the 1st of July, 1885, Mr. Jones assumed charge of the Bethesda
spring, at Waukesha, Wisconsin, and under his management the business
was soon made profitable. In 1888 he became president of the Bethesda
Mineral Spring Company, and he retained this office, together with that
of manager, until his death, when he w-as succeeded by his son, as pre-
viously noted in this context. He acquired the controlling interest in
the stock of the company, and he did much to bring to Waukesha its,
wide reputation as a health resort, the Bethesda water being now^ shipped
into all sections of the country. He also became the o\\iier of the fine
Terrace hotel, situated just across the street from the Bethesda spring;
was organizer of the Waukesha Beach Electric Railway Company, of
which he was president, and in 1894 he established his permanent home
in Waukesha, where he remained an honored and distinguished citizen
until his death. He was a member of the Baptist church, as was also
his wife, and he was actively affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.
He was a man of broad views, fine intellectuality and most genial and
kindly nature, so that his circle of friends was exceptionally large, —
virtually coincident with that of his acquaintances. On the 13th of
October, 1857, Mr. Jones wedded Miss Emeline A. Wright, who was born
in the state of New York. Of the two children, Alfred W. is the only
survivor.

Alfred Wirt Jones, who succeeded to his father's extensive interests

1492 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

in Waukesha and who has well upheld the prestige of the name as an
able business man and progressive citizen, was born at Warren, Illinois,
on the 14th of November, 1868. He prosecuted his studies in the public
schools of his native town until he had completed the curriculum of
the high school and at the age of eighteen years he entered Union Col-
lege of Law, in the city of Chicago, where he was a student for three
years. He has not found it expedient to engage in the practice of law
but has found his technical knowledge of great value in connection with
the ordering of his extensive property and business interests. After
leaving the college mentioned Mr. Jones assumed charge of the Chicago
branch of the Bethesda Mineral Spring Company, and three years later,
in 1895, he became secretary of the company. Upon the death of his
honored father, in 1910, he was elected, by the board of directors, to
the offices of president and manager of the company, as successor of his
father, and of these positions he has since remained the incumbent. He
gives his entire time and attention to the interests of this important cor-
poration, which is capitalized for two hundred thousand dollars, and
the local business of the concern has grown appreciably under his
regime, as well as its sales of the Bethesda water throughout all sections
of the country.

Like his father Mr. Jones is a stalwart in the camp of the Republi-
can party, and he has been an active worker in its cause, having served
for some time as secretary of the Republican county committee of Wau-
kesha county. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which his
maximum membership is in the Waukesha commandery of Knights
Templar, and he is also identified with the local organization of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is zealous in the support
of agencies and measures tending to advance the fame and the general
welfare of W^aukesha and is a popular factor in the business and social
circles of his home city.

On the 12th of May, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of ]\Ir. Jones
to Miss Ella A. Tefft, of Warren, Illinois, and they have one child,
Logan A.

It is but consistent to enter in conclusion of this review a brief rec-
ord concerning the celebrated Bethesda Spring, the water of which has
gained world-wide reputation in connection with the curing of certain
elasses of diseases, especially those of the kidneys and bladder. To
Colonel Richard Dunbar is due the credit of the discovery of the defi-
nite therapeutic properties of the water from the Bethesda Spring, this
discovery having been made by him in 1868, although for years prior
to that time the Indians had drunk of the water with marked benefit.
Colonel Dunbar, who was by vocation a railroad contractor and who had
spent many years in South America, was considered a hopeless invalid,
suffering from diabetes. His wife's mother, Mrs. William Clarke, a
resident of "Waukesha, was fatally ill in this village and he and his wife

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1493

were summoned to her bedside. The colouel himself was in a most
despondent mood, for the most noted physicians of the day had told him
that he had but a few months to live. His skin was like parchment, and
no perspiration had come from his pores for months. On the 9th of
August, 1868, he was taken out for a drive and upon passing the spring
he requested a cup of water, which was given him. In fact he drank
nine cupfulls and almost immediately he began to perspire. Upon'
arriving home he was put to bed and he soon fell asleep, — the first nor-
mal sleep he had obtained for a long period. Upon awakening he called
for more water, and he continued to drink it whenever thirsty. From
that time his recovery was rapid, and he lived for a long time afterward,
his appreciation having been such that he purchased an interest in the
spring that prolonged his life.

In the autumn of 1868 the water was first sold for medicinal pur-
poses, and it has been continuously on the market since that time. The
business of bottling and selling in large quantities was initiated in
1878^ and the water is now consumed in all parts of the United States
and in many Canadian and European cities. In 1912 many thousands
of bottles of the water were gold, and the business is constantly increas-
ing. The greatest care is taken to furnish the w^ater in a pure and
unadulterated state and therefore it is sold only in new bottles tilled at
the spring with a seal over each cork. One hundred fifty-five thousand
bottles are filled each day and the supply is unlimited, and the water
has the endorsement of the medical profession, the while testimonials
to its wonderful efficiency have been received by many of the most dis-
tinguished men of the nation, especially in commending it as a great
remedy for all kidney and bladder diseases including diabetes and
Bright 's disease. According to government reports there is more Beth-
esda sold for medicinal purposes than any other American water.

Bethesda Park, in which the spring is located, is the most beautiful
spot in Waukesha, as well as most popular with the thousands of visit-
ors to the noted resort. Within a hundred miles of Chicago and less
than twenty from j\Iilwaukee, residents of those cities are always present
in large numbers, and as a summer resort for southerners Waukesha
rivals the reputation of Saratoga in the days before the Civil war. The
Terrace hotel, controlled by the company, is modern in every appoint-
ment and department of service and offers a most attractive place for
rest and recreation under ideal conditions, the hotel and the park con-
stituting one of the greatest and most popular summer resorts in the
entire country. The president of the Bethesda Company has an able
and valued coadjutor in its secretary, Amy L. Vincent.

Hon. David Evan Roberts. High on the roll of Wisconsin's dis-
tinguished citizens is found the name of Hon. David Evan Roberts, ex-
Probate Judge of Douglas county, whose distinctive preferment at the

1494 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

bar and on the bench was attained through methods that qualify him
for the proud American title of a self-made man. Judge Roberts' career
has been characterized by episodes that have marked the lives of many
of our leading statesmen and jurists. Of honorable but humble origin,
with early advantages that were made conspicuous by their absence, he
was forced to face the world at an early age, illy fitted with educational
training but with a superabundance of ambition, energy and determina-
tion. With these as his sole assets, he perseveringly fought his way up,
step by step, to a position of prestige in his chosen profession and to a
place in public confidence attained by but few men. His career is one
worthy of emulation by the youth of any land or day.

David Evan Roberts was born at Florence, Oneida county. New
York, January 18, 1854, and is a son of Hugh and Jane (Evans) Rob-
erts. His father, born in Denbighshire, North of "Wales, emigrated to
the United States in 1848, locating on a farm in Oneida county, New
York, on which he spent thirteen years, subsequently removing to Lewis
county, New York, and when in advanced years, in 1894, coming to
Superior, Wisconsin, where he made his home with his son. Judge Rob-
erts, until his death, February 12, 1903. ,He was buried at Constable-
ville, New York. His wife, who was also born in the North of Wales,
and who came to this country with her parents in 1839 as a child,
passed away in New York State in 1886, being in her fifty-sixth year.
They were the parents of six children, of whom David E. was the eldest,
and of these four still survive.

The oldest of his father's children, David E. Roberts was forced to
devote the greater part of his boyhood and youth to the work of the
home place, and his attendance in the district school was limited to
short periods when his father could spare him from the thousand and
one tasks that mark the busy farmer's existence. Even at that early
date, however, the lad determined upon a career apart from agricul-
tural life, and made the most of every opportunity that presented itself,
eventually succeeding in completing a course at the Potsdam (New
York) Normal school, where he was graduated in 1878. Following this,
he spent two years at Cornell University earning the means whereby to
pursue his studies by intervals of labor at carpentering, bark-peeling
and school teaching, and in the spring of 1880. deciding that better op-
portunities awaited him in the West, made his way to the State of Kan-
sas. Shortly thereafter, he continued on as far as Colorado Springs, Colo-
rado, but his meager capital had dwindled to but a dollar or two in cur-
rency. His indomitable energy and willingness to apply himself to
whatever honorable employment could be found, however, were still
with him, and he soon secured employment in a stone quarry, where,
forty-eight hours later, his evident industry and intelligence had won
him the position of foreman. Although this work was anything but
agreeable to the youth who had set as his goal a high professional posi-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1495

tion, he philosophically accepted it as but a means to a desired end, and
by the completion of six months found himself in position of sufficient
funds with which to go to Ann Arbor, Michigan. In November, 1881,
with other aspirants, he appeared before the Circuit Court at Ann
Arbor and was one of the successful four (three men and one woman)
out of eighty-three applicants who were then and there admitted to
practice before the Michigan bar.

Judge Roberts continued his law course in the University of Mich-
igan, and after his graduation, in 1882, located in Aberdeen, South
Dakota, where he worked at carpenter business for a time, later going
to Castleton, North Dakota, building elevators, for which he was paid
twenty-five cents per hour, working thus week days and Sundays. In
January, 1883, he went to Duluth, Minnesota, and while searching for
a suitable opening noticed an article in a Duluth paper, written by
James Bardon, which told of the opportunities to be found by aspiring
youths in the city of Superior, Wisconsin. To this day. Judge Roberts
maintains that this was the beginning of the change in his fortunes.
Coming to this city in 1883, he opened a modest law office, but was far-
sighted enough to realize that a remunerative law business would not
come without a struggle, and to guard against any possible failure,
with its accompanying financial embarrassments, had brought along
with him his kit of carpenter tools. These tools still remain in excel-
lent condition, having never been used to this day. The young legist's
abilities were almost immediately recognized by the people of Superior,
and in 1884 he was elected to the office of district attorney. In 1889
he received the appointment from Governor Rusk to the office of county^
judge to complete the unexpired term of the late Judge Richard Bar-
don, and in the following spring was elected to succeed himself. He
continued to be regularly reelected until January, 1902, and can point
with a pardonable degree of pride, in that but one of his decisions was
ever reversed by the Supreme Court. His legal opinions were widely
quoted and the soundness and equity of his decisions were never ques-
tioned. A hard student, a man of high scholarship, with a well-poised
mind, ever ready with his legal knowledge, his was a representative of
the highest type of judicial service. Throughout his life he has been an
active, public spirited citizen, fearless in his positions, gaining enemies
by his attitude as do all who have the courage of their convictions, but
commanding respect by his splendid qualities of mind and heart. He
was ever noted for his consistent impartiality and his great love of
truth, and his great charity has caused him to be imposed upon by those
who knew of his willingness to freely give of his legal knowledge where
he was convinced that payment for such would be difficult. During
his incumbency he probated many estates, and frequently saved bene-
ficiaries thousands of dollars by wise counsel, offered in a spirit of
friendliness, not as a lawyer, but as one whose kindness of heart prompt-

1496 HISTORY OP WISCONSIN

ed him to give needed advice. It must not be supposed, however, that
Judge Roberts has not been successful as a business man, for he has
made wise investments and has accumulated a handsome competence.

Judge Roberts was married September 4. 1884, to ]\Iiss Kate Rhodes,
who was born in Trempealeau county, Wisconsin, daughter of John and
Mary Rhodes. She was educated at Winona Normal school and Cornell
Univei-sity and before her marriage was engaged in teaching school at
Winona, Minnesota. She died May 2, 1899, at the age of forty-two
years, having been the mother of eight children: Hugh M., Helen A.,
John R., Jessie L., Florence J., Morgan, David W., and Arthur 0.

The modern family residence is situated at No. 210 West 3d
street, Superior. With his children. Judge Roberts attends the Epis-
copal Church, and his fraternal connections are with Superior Lodge
No. 23, A. F. & A. M., and the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias,
in the latter of which he has passed all the chairs. He was a member of
the school board for four years, acted as a member of the library board
for a period and in 1894 became an aspirant for Congress, but met with
defeat in the party caucus.

E. L. Shippee, prominent in manufacturing circles in Kenosha, has
been a resident of this place since 1900 when he came here to accept
a position with the Chicago-Kenosha Hosiery Co. He has advanced
steadily in business activities since that time, and today has a leading
place among the foremost manufacturing men of the community. Mr.
Shippee is a native son of Illinois, born in McHenry county, that state,
on February 17th, 1869, a son of L. J. and H. S. (Hayes) Shippee.

L. J. Shippee was a native of the state of Vermont, while the mother,
a cousin of Ex-President Hayes, claimed New York as her birth state.
The father came to Illinois in 1848 and was one of the early pioneers
of McHenry county. He was a railroad contractor in Vermont, hav-
ing assisted in building the Vermont Central Railway. After he came
west he engaged in mercantile business in McHenry county, Illinois,
carrying on that business successfully for some years, after which he
turned his attention to farming. Still later he reverted to contracting
and building, which business he continued up to the time of his retire-
ment from active life. He was the father of seven children. Two sons
ajid two daughters yet survive him. He held a number of county
offices as a resident of McHenry county, and took a leading place in his
community, where he was known as a man of stei'ling qualities and as
an excellent citizen. He died in 1899.

E. L. Shippee attended the public schools of McHenry county, up
to the age of seventeen years, when he entered Beloit Academy at
Beloit, Wisconsin. Finishing the Academy course he entered Beloit
College and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1892.

Being strong and active physically and mentally, Mr. Shippee en-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1497

tered largely into the life of the college. He was a noted baseball and
football player and was recognized as one of the foremost college ath-
letes of his day.

For three years after leaving college he was engaged in teaching
school in Northern Illinois. He then abandoned educational work for
mercantile activities, and after two years in that connection became
treasurer of McHenry county. In 1900 he came to Kenosha, to take
charge of the credit and collection department of the Chicago-Kenosha
Hosiery Co., known as the largest exclusive manufacturers of hosiery in
America. He has continued with that concern, advancing steadily in
positions of responsibility. In 1911 he became treasurer of the com-
pany, — a position he still retains as a member of the corporation. He
is also treasurer of the Kenosha Knitting Company, which was organ-
ized and incorporated in 1909. While one of the youngest of Kenosha
industries, this concern has shown remarkable development. Various
kinds of knit goods are manufactured. A trade is supplied, extending
from coast to coast. The integrity of the management is reflected in
the confidence of the dealers.

Sprung from good New England stock, active, energetic, able to
profit by experience, careful in his estimates and expressions of opin-
ion, Mr. Shippee has been looked upon as a most excellent citizen and
valued member of the community.

He was for five years a director in the local Young Men's Christian
Association. He is a member of Kenosha Lodge No. 47, A. F. & A. M.,
and also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Woodstock, Illi-
nois. He is Republican in politics.

On October 10, 1900, Mr. Shippee was married to Miss Adeline
C. Crumb, daughter of J. C. Crumb, a pioneer banker of Harvard,
McHenry county, Illinois. Two children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Shippee : Herbert Crumb, born on the 9th of December, 1905, and
Llewellyn Hayes, born November 26th, 1909. Mrs. Shippee is treas-
urer of the local branch of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The family is one of prominence in Kenosha and enjoys a leading
position in social circles of the city.

Martin Bretl. The combination of human attributes which yields
success in many fields, although an unusual one, is embodied in the
subject of this review. The department store business, grain, produce,
finance— whatever he has turned his hand to, all have shown a bal-
ance on the right side of the ledger, so carefully has he studied and
so well has he wrought, while his prominence in public affairs and
his popularity in social circles further evidence his versatility. Mr.
Bretl's strides to success are the result of hard toil and struggle in
his early days and his keen business methods and perseverance in
later years. Terminating his studies in the district schools, he was

1498 HISTORY OF WISCOxNSlN

not auy too well provided with education with which to enter the
great field of business endeavor, but his dauntless determination and
indomitable spirit overcame all obstacles in his path, and today he
finds himself in a position of prominence among the substantial busi-
ness men of his adopted city.

Martin Bretl was born in Manitowoc county, Wisconsin, February
10, 1860, and is a son of Joseph Bretl, one of the early settlers of
Manitowoc county, a farmer by vocation, later of Door county, and
now a retired resident of Chicago, Illinois. The mother died at the
time of our subject's birth. Martin Bretl remained on the home farm
until reaching the age of seventeen years, and during this time
attended the district schools for three winter terms, although the
greater part of his education has been secured through reading and
association with the business world. On leaving the farm he came
to Algoma, in 1877, and here found employment in the general store
of Samuel Perry, now deceased, with whom he remained for nine
years. He began at a salary of twelve dollars a month. Upon leaving
Mr. Perry, Mr. Bretl became a partner of E. Zander, and for two
years conducted a store under the style of E. Zander & Company,
and when his partner died he purchased the interests of his heirs and
continued the business alone under the same style for some time.
Later the business was incorporated under the style of M. Bretl Co.,
but after two years, in 1910, the building was destroyed by fire. Mr.
Bretl has not reentered that business, although he rebuilt the store,
which is now leased by him to the department store firm of Brey,
Leishow & Company. Mr. Bretl became interested in the produce
business in 1907, in which year he was one of the founders of the
Algoma Produce Company, dealers in cheese, butter, hides, furs, eggs,
etc., which has become one of Algoma 's leading industries. Starting
with a capital of $4,500, the business has since been incorporated with
a capital of $30,000, and is now doing an annual business of over
$1,000,000, maintaining five houses, the Main office being at Algoma
and the branches at Kewaunee, Denmark, Gillette and Sawyer. The
officers are B. Thiard, president; F. W. Liderd, vice-president; E. F.
Campbell, secretary and general manager; and Martin Bretl, treas-
urer. Mr. Bretl is the largest stockholder, and devotes a large part
of his time to the business, but concedes much of the success of the
enterprise to the earnest and well-directed efforts of Mr. Campbell,
whose knowledge of the trade is extensive and whose abilities have
been proven beyond question. Mr. Bretl 's connection with financial
affairs dates back to the time when the Algoma Bank took over the
interests of the Decker Estate, at which time he was made vice-presi-
dent. He has seen the institution outgrow the old quarters and move
to its present handsome building, one of the finest bank structures to
be found in Wisconsin in a city the size of Algoma. The officials of

Q^^

-o-ou-^. L/c^^<Je

• HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1499

the Bauk of Algoma are: August Froemming, president; Martin
Bretl, vice-president; A. W. Ilamaehek, casliier, and J. F. Thiard,
teUer; and August Froemming, Martin Bretl, Benoit Thiard, William
Nesemann, Sr., and M. L. Reinhart, directors. The capital stock and
surplus amount to $52,000, and the men who are connected with the
institution are all well known for their integrity and probity in busi-
ness and financial life.

Although he is not a politician in the generally accepted use of
the term, Mr. Bretl has been prominent in affairs which have had a
direct bearing upon the interests of his city, and has served efficiently
as a member of the council and in the office of mayor. Such are the
interesting events in the career of a man who through business sagacity
and acumen has risen to a commanding position in this locality's
huaneial and industrial circles. He is a man universally liked by all
who are acquainted with him. Although at all times a busy man he is
always approachable. Public-spirited and progressive, no movement
for the real advancement of the city is launched that does not receive
his active and hearty cooperation.

In 1882 Mr. Bretl was married to Miss Ella McCosky, daughter of
the late Frank McCosky. Four children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Bretl, namely : Lydia, who married Spencer D. Kelly, of Ann
Arbor, Michigan, and has one child. Gene Ellen; Frank J., who mar-
ried Evelyn Martin and resides in Chicago, Illinois ; and Raymond and
Gertrude, who reside at home with their parents.

Anson S. Pierce. The history of Wisconsin's citizenship shows that
the lumber industry developed many remarkable men, whose names
would crowd any list short or long of the state's notables. It is like-
wise true that men of exceptional resources, energy, and business en-
terprise have been the chief factors in the development of the lumber
interest. Esi^ecially in the later generation of lumbermen have ap-
peared men of tried and seasoned ability and successful experience
from many states and districts outside of Wisconsin, and have in-
fused personal power and financial capital into the constant conflict
with the giants of the forest in supplying the world's demand for
lumber.

These men, aftereomers, as compared with those pioneer captains
of the industi*y whose activities are rapidly becoming memories have
brought with them new ideas and new methods. These modern rulers
of Wisconsin's timber resources — and their number include promi-
nently Anson S. Pierce of Rhinelander — have all been specialists, have
all applied themselves to one branch of the complicated business in-
volved in the manifold processes between a standing monarch of the
forest, and the finished timber laid on the ground ready to become
part of a building construction. Lumber history records few succes-

1500 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

sors in its line, disassociated from specialization ; without research an
exception is not easy to locate. Some devoted themselves exclusively
to the manufacture of hardwood : some to rafting ; some to planing-
mill activities; some to engineering work, including the building of
railroads, some of which were the nucleus of great transportation sys-
tems; some to the exploitation of hemlock, of bass-wood, of Norway
white pine. Of the last named a conspicuous specialist — conspicuous
even among scores — who has accomplished big things in his particular
line is Anson S. Pierce of Rhinelander.

With some exceptions — exceptions that are notable because of their
rarity — those lumbermen who have made a marked impress upon their
trade in this country have been easterners, by birth or by descent, and
they have been graduated for the most part from the forested areas
and commercial centers of the New England states, those of Maine
especially. Such men scattered throughout the northern timbered
country, culled therefrom its best in their line and then went south,
and later to the Pacific coast, dominating the industry wherever they
penetrated and elected to establish bases of action. A fairly faithful
retrospect of this achievement in the lumber trade of those sections
shows them to have been largely by lumbermen or friends of lumber-
men of New England birth; and their record is being maintained ro-
bustly by their virile descendants of today in all sections where lum-
ber manufacture and distribution are industriously important.

The ancestry of Anson S. Pierce goes back to New England and
to revolutionary times. It goes farther, to the passage of the family
to this coiintry from England in the historic Mayflower and to indis
putable direct descent from Sir Walter Raleigh. The Pierce migration
was always to the west. The first of the name to whom records in
this country give prominence is Charles S. Pierce, grandfather of
Anson S. Pierce. In his generation he achieved some fame as a strong
political leader in New York City. To him is accredited ability (with-
out the accompanying stigma of later years) to control the contem-
porary political situation in the metropolis. His son was Charles S.
Pierce, who was the first of the name known to have been identified
with the lumber trade. He conducted a sawmill enterprise in the
vicinity of Bufi'alo, New York, and sold lumber at wholesale. He is
said to have been the patentee of the first two-block shingle machine
ever invented. His wife, the mother of Anson S. Pierce was Elizabeth
(Becker) Pierce, who was born in Coopertown, New York, July 29,
1831, and died April 16, 1869. In Buffalo, New York, was born iVnson
S. Pierce, December 22, 1859. He spent practically all his first thirty
years in his native city, attending its common schools and high schools.
At the conclusion of his school days, with characteristic energy, he
entered at once into the ranks of bread-winners. At seven o'clock on
the morning following his last day in school he Avas at work for a local

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1501

lumber firm, with which he served an apprenticeship of one month.
F. H. Goodyear & Company then took him in their employ, but after a
year, he became connected with a lumber manufacturer at North Tona-
wanda. New York, as traveling salesman. That was his vocation for
some years, and during that time he became a thoroughly practical
lumber man, well grounded in all phases of the business. Following
the family tradition, Mr. Pierce next came west to Rhinelander, Wis-
consin, where he opened an office for the North Tonawanda principals.
He acquired an interest in their business in Wisconsin, pushed the
firm's trade, and in every way proved himself an aggressive and valu-
able man both to his company and to himself. About 1903 he had be-
come thoroughly established in the lumber trade of Wisconsin.

At that time the natural resources of the Wisconsin lumber area
were regarded as practically unlimited, and with his exceptional
acumen Mr. Pierce determined to concentrate his attention and activi-
ties to that phase of specialization which since has and now does
give him much prominence in the northern lumber trade^ — specializa-
tion in white pine. Intelligent, continuous review of trade conditions
convinced him that in handling exclusively the higher grades of white
pine lay big business possibilities, and with a man of Mr. Pierce's
mental caliber, determination meant prompt action. He began to ac-
cumulate and handle the best white pine cut, at first almost experi-
mentally, but as the consuming trade learned that his j^ears at Rhine-
lander, where he had entered into business exclusively on his own ac-
count, were a certain source of the choicest grades of white pine, his
business grew to an extent that would have embarrassed the resources
of a less resourceful man. It has reached a point where he now han-
dles an average of about twenty million feet of white pine lumber
of the highest grade. This output is shipped largely to the east, and
a large proportion of it goes to satisfy an export trade, which Mr.
Pierce has dex^eloped through cultivation of a reputation for handling
only the better qualities of white pine.

Mr. Pierce guarded his reputation as a dealer in high grade white
pine so jealously that in a short time after he undertook a special
brand, his trade largely took care of itself, and allowed him oppor-
tunity for attention to other woods. In 1908 he organized the firm
of Danielson & Pierce. The chief industry of this concern is the han-
dling of hardwood lumber, and it has turned over the stock of northern
mills to the extent of between five million and six million feet each
year. It has offices in Rhinelander, and a branch office in Chicago.
The Pierce product in both white pine and hardwood are recognized
wherever introduced as of always reliably high grade and faithful
to all representations made of them. The foresight that induced Mr.
Pierce to specialize has resulted in the establishment of a reputation

1502 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

that insures success in his constantly enlarging business with domestic
and foreign consumers.

A feature of the Pierce business at Rliinelander complementing the
high character of the stock carried is the ability of the yard to meet
the demands immediately upon their receipt.

Mr. Pierce finds his greatest pleasure in his home. He has a beau-
tiful residence in Rliinelander and has also built a summer home on
Moen's Lake. Mr. Pierce's marriage was the culmination of a pretty
little romance. In li)03, while in Denver, Colorado, Mr. Pierce was
taken ill, and so seriously that his illness required the attention of a
trained nurse, Clara P. Severson, a resident of Denver, and a native
of Cincinnati, Ohio. Her gentle ministrations were so effective, that,
as Mr. Pierce expressed it, he "gave her a life job" beginning with
theii' wedding six months after the acquaintanceship was formed.
Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have one daughter, Florence. Politically Mr.
Pierce is a Republican, but has shown no evidence of political aspira-
tion. Though too busy to indulge much in recreation he occasionally
yields to a hobby for blooded horses. He delights in outdoor life, and
secures it largelj^ through the use of two high-power automobiles and
power boat. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and has al-
ways made his religion practical in the conduct of his business.

August Froemming. The standing of every community is meas-
ured in large degree by the character of its financial institutions, for
unless they are stable and possess the confidence and support of the
people, the credit of the municipality and its citizens is impeached.
The Algoma Bank, of Algoma, Wisconsin, is an institution which grew
out of the needs of its locality, and was organized by men of im-
pregnable business and financial standing, whose interests have been
centered in it and whose honor and personal fortunes are bound up
in its life. Among these men is found August Froemming, its active
directing' head, and a decided factor in the business life of Algoma as
the senior partner of the large grain firm of August Froemming & Son.
Mr. Froemming is one of his community's self-made men. He was
born in the Province of Pomerania, Prussia, Germany, October 6,
1842, and is a son of Carl and Engel (Sehultz) Froemming. The par-
ents, with their son and daughter, emigrated to the United States in
1857, and first located at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the father
died shortly afterward, leaving the family in straitened financial cir-
cumstances, and the widow subseciuently took lier children to what
was then Wolfe River, and located on a farm in the woods of Kewau-
nee county, where her death occurred.

August Froemming was a lad of fourteen years when he accom-
panied his parents to America. He had attended school in his native
land and had there been confirmed, and after coming to this country

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1503

spent a short time in the schools of Milwaukee. The death of his
father, however, curtailed his education, and he early started to work
to assist his mother in running the household. He was about seven-
teen years old when he came to Kewaunee county, and at that time
Wolfe River (later Ahpanee, and now Algoma) was a small hamlet.
With youthful enthusiasm and energy he started to clear the timber
from the eighty-acre farm, and there continued to follow agricultural
pursuits for some fourteen years. Disposing of his property at the
end of that period, he came to Algoma and opened a small general
store, which he conducted for twenty-one years, building up an excel-
lent business. This enterprise he sold to George Warner, and for
two years enjoyed a well-earned vacation, visiting points in California
and other places of interest. It was not in Mr. Froemming's nature
to remain long idle, however, — his spirit was too energetic — and he
soon longed for the activities of business life. Accordingly, upon his
return to Algoma he established himself in the grain business, and in
this, as in his other ventures, he has met with gratifying success.
Subsequently, when his sou Frank was admitted to the firm, the style
became August Froemming & Son, and as such it has continued to the
present time, having won high standing in the grain trade in Wis-
consin. At this time a branch is maintained at Forestville, which is
managed by Frank Froemming, while the father remains in personal
charge of the Algoma house. At the time the Bank of Algoma took
over the interests of the Decker Estate, which included a string of
banks which had been long established at Sturgeon Bay, Algoma and
other Northern Wisconsin points, Mr. Froemming was elected presi-
dent, and in this capacity he has continued to act to the present time.
He has popularized the coffers of the institution, and his known integ-
rity and honor have gained and retained the confidence of the public.
Recently, this bank erected a handsome building, of stone, which is
second to none in the state for a city the size of Algoma. This bank,
established in 1881, has been under the supervision of the State Bank-
ing Department since 1898, and is a United States depository for
Postal Savings Funds. The statement of the bank's condition as
stated April 18, 1912, was as follows : Resources : Loans and Dis-
counts, $440,191.77; Overdrafts, $3,430.02; Bonds, $61,000.00; Furni-
ture and Fixtures, $2,980.00; Real Estate, $3,550.00; Cash, Cash Items
and Due from Banks, $75,517.62; Total, $586,669.41. Liabilities: Capi-
tal Stock, $25,000.00; Surplus, $27,000.00; Undivided Profits, $728.54:
Deposits, $533,940.87; Total, $586,669.41. The officials of the insti-
tution are: August Froemming, president; Martin Bretl, vice-presi-
dent ; A. W. Hamachek, cashier, and J. F. Thiard, teller ; and August
Froemming, Martin Bretl, Benoit Thiard, William Nesemann, Sr., and
M. L. Reinhart, directors.

Mr. Froemming was married in 1866 to Miss Carolina Pflughoeft,

1504 HISTORY OF WTSCONSTX

who died leaving two children : Frank, who married Susan Carrie,
and is the father of two children : Helen and Eugene ; and Emma, who
married August Busse and has two children, Warren and ^largaret.
Mv. Froemming's second marriage was to Miss Bertha Leisehow, and
they have had four children : Mary, who married Rev. Charles Bulley,
and has two children, Kenneth and Edward ; and the Misses Lydia,
Esther and Ruth Froemming. Mr. and Mrs. Froemming are consistent
members of the German Methodist church. They have a wide acquaint-
ance and many friends in Algoma and their pleasant home is located
next to the training school, on Fremont street.

Hon. Melvin W. Perry. In the annals of Wisconsin's history
instances are not lacking of men who have risen from humble circum-
stances and obscurity to positions of eminence in the world of busi-
ness and politics. It is doubtful, however, if there are many cases
which parallel the career of the Hon. Melvin W. Perry, mayor of
Algoma, state senator, president of the Citizens Bank and manager
of the Ahnapee Veneer and Seating Company. There is something
intensely attractive in the life of a man who through sheer ability and
indomitable energy works his way up from the ranks to the forefront
among the successful men of his day and locality, and as an excellent
example of self-made American manhood, Mr. Perry's achievements
will prove interesting no less to the general public than to the student
of biography.

Melvin W. Perry (or "Mel," as he is more familiarly known to his
friends) was born February 26, 1864, at Racine, Wisconsin, although
the family home was located at Algoma, and is a son of William X.
and Sophronia (Beach) Perry. His father, a native of Vermont, grew
up in that state, and after securing a public school education took
up the study of medicine, which, however, he was forced to abandon
after two years on account of ill health. During the early fifties he
came to the West, locating in Illinois, where he found employment
on the farm of Doctor Newton, who was a large landholder in the
Prairie state and also the owner of considerable timber property ili
Wisconsin. Mr. Perry worked on one of Doctor Newton's farms for
a time and was then sent to Clay Banks, Wisconsin, to build a mill
for his employer, following which he was employed in helping to build
the mill at Algoma for the Hall brothers, this being the first mill at
this place. Mr. Perry then engaged in business on his own account
as the proprietor of a chair factory, but when the Civil War broke
out he closed his place of business and enlisted in Company K,
Twenty-first Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. At his first
fight, the battle of Perryville, he was wounded and captured by the
Confederates, but was later paroled. In that same year (1863) he
was married to Miss Sophronia Beach, who was born at London.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1505

Ontario, Canada. Upon his return to the ranks of peace, Mr. Perry
again resumed operations in his chair factory at Algoma, which he
continued to conduct until 1871. At that time he disposed of his
interests and invested his capital in a drug business, and was identi-
fied with this enterprise until his death at Algoma in 1878, when
he was forty-five years of age. The mother passed away when thirty-
nine years old. "William and Sophronia (Beach) Perry were the par-
ents of four children : Melvin W., of this review ; William H. ;
Minnie J., who became the wife of M. Kwapil, and Willard N.

The educational advantages of Melvin W. Perry were not of an
extensive nature, being limited to attendance at the public schools of
Algoma "off and on" until he was fifteen years of age. At that time
he took up carpentering and the millwright trade, and in 1886 went
to Sheboygan, where he entered the employ of a Mr. Frost, who at
that time conducted a veneer factory there. Young Perry had been
employed for a short time previous at Sheboygan, but he had been
unfortunate enough to become involved in a "sympathy strike" and
left his position rather than work against his fellow-laborers. His
finances becoming quite low, at the suggestion of a friend he started
for the Frost plant to apply for work. On his way, he was compelled
to cross a small stream to get to the factory, and on his way over
slipped and fell, breaking through the ice. Nothing daunted by this
mishap, he continued sti-aight ahead and with dripping clothing entered
the offices and asked for employment. Mr. Frost did not need any
hands at that time, but, being evidently impressed favorably by the
determination of the young man, as demonstrated by his appearing
in his wet clothing instead of turning back for a change, put him on
the payroll at the salaiy of $1.25 per day, as a laborer. It was not
"down on the books" for Mr. Perry to remain long in that humble
capacity, however, for he not only had a good kit of tools but soon
demonstrated his knowledge of their use, and by the time his first year
had passed he was occupying the position of foreman. He remained
in that position for five years, and then, at the solicitation of several
Algoma friends, returned to this place and became one of the organ-
izers of the Ahuapee Veneer and Seating Company. This business was
later incorporated under the laws of the state, with a capital of $25,000,
and the following officers : Samuel Perrj^, president ; John Ihlenf eld,
vice-president; M. T. Parker, secretary; D. W. StefEens, treasurer; and
M. W. Perry, manager. This concern has erected a large, three-story,
brick plant along the Green Bay and Western Railroad, at Algoma,
and here are employed 140 mechanics, more than any other concern
in the thriving city of Algoma. In 1902 a branch was established at
Birchwood, which is under the superintendency of P. M. White and
employs 60 men. In his management of the afi'airs of this industry,
Mr. Perry has displayed business ability of the highest order. He

1506 HISTORY OP WISCONSIN

has increased the extent of the business materially each year and the
concern stands high in its rating in industrial circles of the state. In
addition Mr. Perry is interested in the coal business with Henry Grimm,
under the firm style of the Algoma Fuel Company. In October, 1911,
he became identified with financial matters as one of the organizers of
the Citizens Bank, which now occupies a handsome structure in the
heart of the business district, and this institution is known as one of
the most substantial and conservative in Kewaunee county. He has
a firm grasp upon financial matters, and as the directing head of this
bank is widely known in this section. The capital and surplus (over)
of the Citizens Bank are $60,000, it is always under the rigid super-
vision of the state of Wisconsin, and is the United States depository
for the Postal Savings Fund. The officers are : M. W. Perry, president ;
Frank Slaby, vice-president; C. F. Boedecker, cashier, and M. W.
Perry, Frank Slaby, John L. Haney, Henry Grimm, Walter E. Eaiospe,
C. Capelle and Ernest Bruemmer, directors. In addition to his com-
fortable home in Algoma, Mr. Perry is the owner of a small farm adja-
cent to the city.

In the field of polities Mr. Perry has been active and influential. A
supporter of Republican principles, he was a delegate to the state con-
ventions of 1898, 1902 and 1904, and was alternate to the national
convention, held in Chicago in 1904. In 1910 he became a -candidate
for the mayoralty of Algoma and has continued to serve in that capac-
ity since. In 1910 Mr. Perry was elected state senator, receiving 3,258
votes against 2,865 for Leo J. Evans, Democrat ; 2,298 for Dr. A. J.
Kreitzer, Independent Republican, and 660 for Dr. N. Z. Wagner, Social-
ist Democrat. His public service has ever been characterized by faith-
ful performance of duty and high ideals of the responsibilities of pub-
lic office. In spite of his political activities, Mr. Perry is more of a
business and home man than a politician. His fraternal connections
are limited to membership in the Masonic fraternity.

In 1891 Mr. Perry was married to Miss Mary J. Esser, of Sheboygan,
Wisconsin, and they have two children : William E.. now in the office
of the Ahnapee Veneer and Seating Company; and Ralph H.. a sopho-
more at the University of Wisconsin.

Albert B. Leyse. A decided factor in the commercial and indus-
trial life of Kewaunee is found in the business of the Aluminum Sign
Company, which has been developed through the efforts of several men
of energetic spirit and modem ideas. The president of this concern,
Albert B. Leyse, has not alone been active in business lines, but has
rendered his community able and public-spirited service in the office
of postmaster, in which capacity he has acted since March 22, 1911.
Mr. Leyse was born at Mason City, Iowa, September 7, 1872, and is a
son of John and Mary Leyse, natives of Norway. The parents were

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1507

married at Lansing, Iowa, subsequently went to Mason City, where the
father followed his trade of carpenter, and in 1885 came to Wisconsin
and located at La Crosse. Later, the family moved to Two Rivers, and
there the father passed his remaining active years. Mr. and Mrs.
Leyse were the parents of six children: Albert B., Norman, John,
Henry, Angle, who married Charles Hansen, and Josephine, who
became the wife of Hans Christensen.

Albert B. Leyse, or " Al" as he is familiarly known among his asso-
ciates, was a boy of about thirteen years of age when the family came
to the Badger state. He was educated in the public schools of Lansing,
Iowa, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, but the greater part of bis training has
been secured since he left the schoolroom. When still a lad he was
employed at a hotel, making the trains and picking up such honorable
employment as presented itself, and in addition worked for a time in
a shingle mill and was also a "lumber jack" for a short period in the
woods. In 1889 he moved with the family to Two Rivers, Wisconsin,
where for the next ten years he worked in various factories, and also
was made city clerk and served in that capacity for four years from
1896 to 1900. About the year 1903, he entered into a partnership with
Doctor E. J. Soik, and engaged in a very modest manner in the manu-
facture of aluminum advertising specialties at Two Rivers. Two years
later the business was removed to Kewaunee, and at that time Charles
Metzner bought the interest of Doctor Soik, he holding it until 1910,
when he sold out to the Leyse brothers. In the meantime, in 1905, the
business had been incorporated as the Aluminum Sign Company, and
in 1910 the capital was increased to its present size, $15,000, while the
officers became: A. B. Leyse, president; John Leyse, vice-president;
Norman Leyse, se(fretary and treasurer ; and these gentlemen and Henry
Leyse, directors. Thirty mechanics are employed and five salesmen
are constantly on the road. The product of this company consists
of aluminum signs and aluminum novelties, such as calendars, book-
holders, nail files, kitchen reminders, combs, trade checks, watch fobs,
letter openers, card cases, collapsible drinking cups, thermometers, etc.,
in fact, anything in the line of aluminum goods. In the management
of this business Mr. Leyse has shown himself capable, farseeing and
acute. He and his brothers have kept abreast of the times, and in
conducting their affairs work under the "Do It Now" idea. Their
signs and novelties are to be found all over the country, and in no
small way have contributed towards attracting attention to the beauti-
ful little county seat of Kewaunee county.

In January, 1893, Mr. Leyse was married to ]Miss Delia Bebeau, a
native of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and a daughter of Mose Bebeau, who
was for many years identified with the lumber industry in Wisconsin,
having been a camp "cookie" back in 1855. Five children have been

1508 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

born to Mr. and Mrs. Leyse, namely : Viola, Gertrude, Riley, Alice
and Dorothy.

Lewis M. Evert. One of the progressive and able young attorneys
of Marinette is Lewis M. Evert, who established himself in practice here
in 1905, about a year after his graduation from the law department of
the University of Wisconsin, in June, 1904. His first practice was con-
ducted at Wausaukee, but after about a year he removed to JMarinette,
and his continued success here has amply rewarded his choice of a
location.

Born in Pewaukee, in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, on February
12, 1876, Lewis M. Evert is the son of August and Elizabeth (Wieder-
man) Evert. The father was a farmer, now deceased, who came to
Wisconsin in 1869 from his native land, Germany being his birthplace
as well as that of the mother. They came to America at about the same
time, but were married in their new homeland, and settled on a farm
in Wausaukee county. There Lewis M. Evert was born and reared,
attending the district schools, and when he had advanced sufficiently
he applied himself to teaching in the winter terms in the rural district.
Six winters he passed thus occupied, at the same time being engaged
in carrying on his studies in preparation for the prosecution of a law
course in the State University, his plans to that effect having been early
matured. He took a scientific course at Carroll College, in Waukesha,
Wisconsin, in preparation for entrance to the University, and in 1901
he entered the law department, from which he was graduated in June.
1904.

Mr. Evert has been more than ordinarily successful in his legal prac-
tice since coming to Marinette, and served as police judge of Marinette
from May, 1909, to May, 1913, rendering a service in that capacity that
was worthy of a higher court and showing him to be an able and coming
man in his profession.

On October 18. 1909, Mr. Evert was married to Miss Clara Kuenzli,
of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, and they have one child, — Thomas R. Evert.

Mr. Evert is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and Eagles. He is already well established in his profession in the city
and county, and gives promise of a useful career in the law, as well as
of proving himself a citizen of high order in the community where his
best efforts are exercised.

Leo J. Evans. A resident of Marinette since 1882, Mr. Evans has
a place in business, civic and social affairs in the prosperous city of
northern Wisconsin. His principal attention is given to real estate,
mortgages, loans, abstracts, and other departments of general real
estate and land business, but his interests also comprehend many other
affairs. Mr. Evans is treasurer of the Marinette Development Club,

icrd

'^J'<r-t_J^.^

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1509

aud is a director in the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Marinette.

Born in Wolverhampton, England, December 8, 1858, Mr. Evans
was reared aud began his business career in his native land, coming to
Marinette when he was twenty-four years of age. In 1880 he was mar-
ried to Miss Elizabeth Read. He early acquired a thorough training in
mercantile affairs, and finally established a store at Birmingham, Eng-
land, but sold out in the faU of 1882, and came to America. His first
settlement was at Marinette, where he opened a general store and ran
it prosperously until 1893. Closing out his mercantile interests, he
then entered his present line of endeavor, in which his success was
immediate and has been steadily growing.

Mr. aud Mrs. Evans are the parents of two children : Emily R. is the
wife of John A. Faller of Marinette. Mr. and Mrs. Faller have two chil-
dren, John Evans Faller, and Elizabeth Pauline Faller. George B.
Evans, the son and second child, is now a student in the University of
Wisconsin law department. Outside of business Mr. Evans has long
been prominent in politics, and in religious circles. As a Democrat he
is one of the local leaders, though his residence in a district overwhelm-
ingly Republican has precluded any participation in the essential hon-
ors and rewards of political life. Twice, in the party interest, but with-
out any expectation of success, he has allowed his name to go on the
Democratic ticket as candidate for state senate. A member of the Cath-
olic church, ]\Ir. Evans has been prominent in that organization in Mar-
inette, and has filled all the chairs in the local lodge of the Knights of
Columbus. As a popular speaker and after-dinner orator he is
regarded as one of the ablest in this . section of the state, and is fre-
quently designated a speaker at popular gatherings or as toastmaster
in special meetings.

Haery W. Bolens. At this juncture it is a privilege to direct atten-
tion to a Wisconsin man who has "done things." There are found in
Harry W. Bolens no spirit of apathy, no toleration of injustice. He is
strong in powers of initiative, he is broad in his vision, he places true
valuation on men and affairs, he is essentially and emphatically the
friend of the people, without fear or favor, and through personal abil-
ity and well ordered endeavor he has achieved much, the worst that
can be said of him being to the effect that he has been and remains
identified with the newspaper fraternity, an organization not free from
suspicious indulgence in ways that are vain and rites that abound in
unholy mystery. His status has been most effectively designated in
the following estimate: "A graduate of the college of hard knocks;
mayor of Port Washington, third term ; president of the Gilson Gaso-
line Engine Works, which is competing with the greatest implement
trust in the world; publisher of the Port Washington Star; cham-
pion of personal liberty, free speech and a free press; plaintiff in the

1510 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

income tax suit, and opposed to a state, eouuty or school-district in-
come tax law; has favored a national income tax for the past twenty
years." This vigorous atom in the domain of newspaperdom has not
been obscure. The plans and specifications on which he was built do
not permit this. He manages to "sit up and notice," and soon some-
thing begins to move, and he is the propelling force. He is a Democrat
and doesn't care who knows it. In fact, he has been known to say
that he is one. He tried his best to become lieutenant governor of
Wisconsin in the election of 1910, and it would not have damaged the
state had the preferrment been granted to him. He repeated the at-
tempt in 1912, but Wisconsin failed to live up to the glorious possi-
bilities offered and fell behind in the triumphant march of the Demo-
cratic party to such an extent that Mr. Bolens was again placed in the
official discard, "Avhich same he hadn't orter. " Let's talk a little
more about the man of newspapers, gas engines and politics.

Harry Wilbur Bolens, the aggressive and progressive, — the latter
not in a technical political sense, — claims the Hawkeye State as the
place of his nativity and is a scion of staunch Swiss stock. He was
born at Washington, Iowa, judicial center of the county of the same
name, on the thirteenth of January, 1864, and is a son of Eugene and
Sarah (Madden) Bolens, the former of whom was born in Ohio.
Eugene Bolens may be consistently designated as one of the pioneers
of this state. He was a man of fine mental ken and was long and
actively identified with newspaper publishing and editing, the while
his well fortified opinions made him an influential factor in political
and general civic affairs. The intellectual flame which burned in and
illumined his physical being was denied its proper complement of
physical strength and well being, as he was a semi-invalid dm-ing
much of his active career. He was a victor over circumstances and
conditions, however, for, in spite of his physical afflictions, he
worked, and worked well, accounting well to himself and to the world.
In the early sixties he numbered himself among the pioneers of Iowa,
where he founded a newspaper in the town of Washington, but he soon
came to Wisconsin and established his home at Janesville, Avhere he
was identified with newspaper work vmtil 1866, when he removed to
Juneau, in the same county. He continued his residence at Juneau
until 1875, when he removed to Madison, the capital of Wisconsin,
where he held the office of state printer in that and the succeeding
year. It is most interesting to note that Mrs. Sarah (Madden) Bolens
had been long and effectively concerned with journalistic and practical
newspaper work, and that she was the active manager of the Port
Washington Star, published by her son. This talented and noble
woman, who died November 25, 1912, had the distinction of being the
oldest active newspaper manager of her sex in the entire w^orld, so far
as data indicate. It may be stated that the Port Washington Star, a

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1511

weekly publication, has one of the best equipped offices to be found
in the entire country in a city of the same approximate population.

Harry W. Bolens is in the most significant sense a self-made man,
and it is established beyond peradventure that he has done a pretty
good architectural job along this line. In his youth he felt the lash
of necessity, and this goad tends to make strong men. He struggled
with adversity, emerged victorious ; he gained valuable discipline un-
der that wisest of all head-masters, experience, and he trudged bravely
and imperturbed toward the goal of definite success. It is trusted that
he approved of the term solifidian, but that has not designated the
man himself, for his faith has been that of works. He has been a doer
instead of an organized day-dreamer. He has subordinated theory to
definite practice, without exploiting his own wisdom and without in-
tolerance of view, though implacable in his fight for what he believes
to be right and just. It takes a dyed-in-the-wool newspaper man to
"get back" effectively at one of his own ilk, and George C. Nuesse,
city editor of the Milwaukee Journal, recently published a malevolent
estimate of the character and service of Mr. Bolens. The following
quotations, slightly paraphrased, indicate what he thinks about the man
to whom this sketch is dedicated :

"In the year 1883 there was a young man at Port Washington who
had succeeded in accumulating twenty dollars. He had been employed
on the Port Washington Star, and had obtained the rudiments of a
newspaper education. With his money in his wallet, and a good night's
sleep behind him, he walked to Sheboygan, taking some type with him.
There he started the Sheboygan Journal, issued every day except Mon-
day, it being the custom at that time to skip the proverbial blue Mon-
day except in the larger cities of the state. The average charge for a
daily at that time was fifty cents a month, but the Journal was made
for fifteen cents a week, a new wrinkle that made possible weekly in-
stead of monthly collections, and made it umiecessary for the 'boss'
to sleep on the floor and eat sandwiches for thirty days consecutively.
In this instance the first week's collections amoujited to one hundred
dollars.

"Now this is not the sketch of an individual but is a simple story
of a newspaper man's experiences. A newspaper man is, after all, a
modest individual, and it is not often that he will tell of his own troubles
in his own paper. A newspaper office is full of charm, — if not of money.
But to come back to Sheboygan. It was the custom there to give out
the city printing at so much per folio in an official paper. There
being two dailies, each managed to get this plum every second year.
Now in the case of the Journal it was exceedingly hard sledding in the
off year, so much so that the newsboys, coming in one day, found the
proprietor in a most depressed state of mind. So impressed were they
that they actually made him the astonishing proposition to carry the

1512 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

paper a whole year for nothing, in the expectation that he would be
able to pay them the year following. Circumstances did not require the
acceptance of this munificent tender, but it wasn't long afterward when
a judgment of seventeen dollars was obtained against the owner of the
Journal, with the disastrous result that the sheriff arrived one night
to levy on the place and all its contents. 'Hold on, here !' cried the mili-
tant typesticker, 'we can't let this place lie this way without a cus-
todian. You name me custodian and I'll take care of it for you.' The
sheriff consented. The next morning that historic event in Sheboygan
county, still talked about there and among the newspaper fraternity of
the state, occurred. The Journal appeared with this caption on the edi-
torial page: 'The Sheboygan Daily Journal, published by ,

under the auspices of the sheriff. ' There was method in this madness.
The statement proved a most powerful appeal. Subscribers who hadn't
paid up for months came along, each anxious to help the poor publisher
out. And they did. The j^aper hasn't missed an issue since."

The narrative continues its description of the vicissitudes that vis-
ited the Journal under subsequent control and the struggles which at-
tended its uneven course. The concluding paragraph has the following
statements :

"But who was the hero of this tale, you ask? Well, to be sure. His
name was Bolens, — the same Harry W. Bolens who is now president of
a big factory at Port Washington, the Gilson Gasoline Engine Works,
and another in Canada, besides being financiall}^ interested in other
enterprises, in addition to publishing the Port Washington Star and
holding membership in forty different secret societies, — the same man
who made the run for lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, on the Demo-
cratic ticket, in 1910. But this was not to be a sketch of Mr. Bolens,
much as he deserves it. His newspaper experience is typical of that en-
joyed by most of the enterprising and self-sacrificing men who have
started newspapers in Wisconsin. Most of 'em have had identically the
same trials, and all of 'em are still confidently looking f orAvard to riding
in their own automobiles to the end of the chapter. ' '

Mr. Bolens has maintained his home in Port Washington, the capital
of Ozaukee county, snce 1891, and he is now one of its most progressive
and influential citizens. Independent and self-reliant, he has not been
governed by the partisan dictates of the political body to which he has
given his allegiance, but has boldly assailed those of its tenets which he
believed to be wrong. But the basic principles of the Democratic party
have found in him an uncompromising advocate, both in a personal way
and through the columns of his newspaper. Such a man could not be
other than liberal and public spirited in his civic attitude, and Mr.
Bolens has done much to further the social and material development
and upbuilding of his attractive little home city. As a leader in the
Democratic ranks in Wisconsin he has become widely known throughout

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1513

the state, and ou each occasion of his appearance as its candidate for
lieutenant governor he gained the staunch support of the loyal voters of
liis party, whose normal minority alone compassed his defeat. The peo-
ple of his home town like him. They admire him. They make use of
him. In 1906-7 he served his first term of two years as mayor of Port
"Washington. He was no perfunctory executive of the municipal gov-
ernment. He was progressive along normal and justified lines. His
aggressive policies somewhat startled the voters of the town. They had
not his courage and determination, and thus his star waned for an in-
terval, as he was defeated for reelection in 1907. The interregnum, how-
ever, was such as to regain to him the utmost fealty on the part of his
fellow citizens, for in the election of 1909 he was returned to the office of
mayor, as he was again in 1911, so that he is now serving his third term.
He has made things move along the course of needed public improve-
ments, has encouraged commercial and industrial progress, and has
given an administration Avhich has received the zealous support and
commendation of all classes of citizens. It is well to be mayor of a
live town. Mr. Bolens need not lament that he is not lieutenant gov-
ernor. He is a strong advocate of municipal ownership of public
utilities, and believes that such utilities should be directed with the
game discrimination as other business enterprises. His attitude in
this matter is what compassed his defeat for re-election to the mayor-
alty in 1907, but his views now have the support of the leading citi-
zens of his home town.

In 1891 Mr. Bolens held the position of proofreader for the As-
sembly, and in 1900 and 1908 he was his party's candidate for repre-
sentative of the twentieth district in the senate. He succeeded in
greatly reducing the normal Republican majority in his district. Pop-
ular rights and privileges as opposed to monopoly and corporate
greed have found in Mr. Bolens a most earnest and effective cham-
pion. In this connection, it iiaay be noted that he is in favor of a na-
tional tax on incomes but is unalterably opposed to the localized in-
come tax. Apropos of his attitude in this respect he issued a most
vigorous and well taken arraignment of the present income-t'ax law
of Wisconsin. In the same appeared the following statements : ' ' The
Wisconsin state income-tax law is a penalty levied upon the frugal
and industrious. It denies to industry its full reward. When in-
dustry is not rewarded, industry ceases. When the efforts of men are
not rewarded by money, self-satisfaction or esteem, effort will cease.
Any law, therefore, which takes from the industrious and frugal an
unjust portion of this reward, whether it be done directly or in-
directly, through the raising of rent, through the reduction of wages
and salaries, or tends to prevent an advance in wages, or takes from
the farmer an unjust share of the profit resulting from his toil and
saving, is an injury to prosperity, and all such laws should be re-

1514 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

pealed. * * * a tariff is a tax on the consumer. A state income
tax is a tax on the producer. If a tax on the consumer is an abomina-
tion, what shall we say of a tax on the producer? Who are the pro-
ducers? In numbers, farmers are the greatest producers. Then come
the working men, the business men, the manufacturers. Even the
professions may well come under this head. If a state income tax is
a tax on the producer, then it falls heaviest on the farmer and work-
ing men. We used to be told that the foreigner paid the tariff tax.
We know better now. The importer j^laced the tariff' tax on the cost
of goods and i^assed it on to the consumer. With a state income tax,
the tax can be placed on the goods occasionally in purely local trans-
actions, but ninety per cent of the products of Wisconsin become inter-
state commerce before reaching the consumer. The tax on this por-
tion of the products, therefore, cannot be added to the cost, for the
reason that the price is governed by the supply in other states where
a state income tax is not levied. The tendency of wages under a
system of taxing the consumer is upward. The tendency of wages
under a system of taxing the producer must necessarily be down-
ward. * * * Analyzed from any point of view, Ave arrive at the
same conclusions; that a state income tax means ultimately that the
land shall bear all the taxes. Are the farmers and real estate owners
of Wisconsin ready by their votes to continue a course which inevi-
tably leads to this goal?"

As president of the Gilson Manufacturing Company, Mr. Bolens
has been a potent force in making this one of the important manu-
facturing concerns of the state, the principal output of the plant
being gasoline engines and chair specialities. The company also
owns and operates a second factory, at Guelph, Province of Ontario,
Canada, and from this source is supplied the rapidly expanding trade
in the various provinces of that dominion. The engines manufactured
by this company are sold in competition with others in all parts of the
world, and in the factory at Port Washington employment is given
to a force of about three hundred men, the major number of whom
are skilled mechanics who command good wages. In the Canadian
factory, one hundred and fifty men are employed. Mr. Bolens is a
firm believer in the policy of international reciprocity, and main-
tains that if American manufacturers produce the goods which the
foreign countries need and want, reciprocity will do little if anything
to the derogation of American labor. He was one of the organizers
and is the president of the Wisconsin Manufacturers' Association.

It has been consistently said that in a fraternal way, Mr. P>olens
has identified himself with all available lodges in his home city, in-
cluding the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of For-
esters, and many others. Nothing is perfunctory in his sphere of

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1515

activity, and thus lie is an active and valued factor in the many civic
organizations with which he has united. He is direct, sincere, and
steadfast. At no time is there any need for conjecture as to his
view-point. He is virile, resourceful, resolute and versatile. He has
been a worker and has won success. He merits the confidence and
esteem of his fellow men, and the approbation of his fellows has not
been denied to him. His is a broad horizon of uientality and activity,
and more shall be heard of him with the passing years.

Edward W. Miller. The bar and citizenship of Marinette county
gave deserved recognition to Edward W. Miller in November, 1912,
when he was elected district attorney for that county. Mr. Miller is a
capable young lawyer, has been in practice in Marinette since 1907, and
since taking up his official duties on January 6, 1913, has shown much
efficiency in handling the grave responsibilities entrusted to him. Mr.
Miller previous to the beginning of his present official term served two
years, beginning in 1911, as assistant district attorney. He practices
law in Marinette as a member of the firm of Miller & Miller, his partner
being his older brother, John 0. Miller, now city attorney of Marinette,
and who for five years, from 1905 to 1909, was district attorney of Mar-
inette county. E. W. Miller has been a member of the firm of Miller &
Miller since May, 1911.

He was born at Florent, Wisconsin, August 8, 1884, a son of S. C.
and Hedvig (Karen) Miller. Mr. S. C. Miller is one of Marinette's
prominent manufacturers, being proprietor of the Miller Sash & Door
Company, and a director in the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Marin-
ette. The son was reared at Marinette where he attended the public
school, graduating from the high school in 1903. His first inclination
was for business, and with that purpose in view he took a course in the
Marinette Business College during the winter of 1903-04. In 1904 he
entered the law department of the University of Wisconsin where he
was graduated in 1907, and admitted to the bar in the same year. He
then located at Marinette and has been in active practice now for six
years.

Mr. Miller is unmarried and is popular in social circles. He is
affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, is a member of the Norwegian Litei'ary Society, and belongs to
the Phi Alpha Delta, the law school fraternity.

LoREN 0. RoBECK. The present county treasurer of Marinette
county, Loren 0. Robeck, was first elected to the office in the fall of 1910,
beginning his official duties in the following January, and in November,
1912, was re-elected, now being in his second term. Mr. Robeck went in
on the Republican ticket, and is one of the loyal members of that party
in Marinette county.

1516 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Mr. Robeck is a live and enterprising real estate man of the firm
of Merryman and Robeck, both real estate and insurance, at Marinette.
The senior member is A. C. Merryman, Jr. The firm was organized in
1907. Mr. Robeck has lived in Marinette nearly all his life, and was
born in that city February 14, 1881, a son of Andrew and Sophia Ro-
beck, the father being now deceased. Reared in his native city, Mr.
Robeck attended the public schools, and the only lengthy absence from
his home town was three years spent in northern Michigan. Practi-
cally all his active career has been devoted to the real estate business.
He was first associated with his brother, Arthur Robeck, whose death
occurred in 1904.

Loren 0. Robeck married Miss Ida B. Peterson, of ^Menominee,
Michigan. Fraternally his affiliations are with the Masonic Order.

Bernard M. Mulvaney. In the city of Oconto Mr. IMulvaney occu-
pies two distinct and each a very important office, as city clerk, also as
principal of the Jefferson Ward School. Education may be said to
have been his life work, and he is one of the progressive teachers in
northern Wisconsin. He belongs to one of the old families of Oconto,
one that has lived in this section of the state upwards of half a century.
Mr. ]\Iulvaney himself is still a young man, and from his varied experi-
ence and professional activities in the past has a large place of future
usefulness. He has served as city clerk since April, 1907, and has been
identified with the public school system of the city since 1906, when
he took charge of grades five and six in the Washington school, and in
1907 became principal of the Jefferson school.

Bernard M. Mulvaney was born in Oconto, May 5, 1883, a son of
Bernard and Catherine (Nolan) Mulvaney. His father was for many
years a stationary engineer. For a long time he ran a tug boat on the
Green Bay. His death occurred in the fall of 1907, after a residence at
Oconto for forty years. He was a hard worker and good citizen and
was employed in many different capacities. At one time he was a sup-
ply teamster. Later he was an engineer at the Oconto Company 's Mills,
at various times worked on the drives of lumber, both in the woods and
along the rivers. He was a native of the state of Rhode Island, coming
to Wisconsin when a boy and after a brief period of residence at or
near Milwaukee moved to Oconto. His widow is still living and is a
native of Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

Bernard Mulvaney was reared in Oconto where he attended the
parochial schools and the Oconto high school, graduating from the lat-
ter in 1901. His first work as teacher was in the town of Little River
in Oconto county. He then taught graded school at ^Mountain in the
same county for two and a half years, and while there established the
first graded schools. From there he came to Oconto, and was employed
as a reporter on the Oconto County Reporter. For a time he rejjre-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1517

seiited the New York Life Insurance Company, and he studied law in
the office of Judge Classon at Oconto. For six months he was principal
of the graded school at Daggett, Michigan, and then returned to
Oconto and began his work with the Washington schools. Mr. Mul-
vaney is unmarried. His affiliations are with the Knights of Colum-
bus, the Catholic Order of Foresters, and the Benevolent and Protect-
ive Order of Elks of which he is secretary. His church is the Catholic.

William Arthur Holt has long been identified with the represen-
tative business interests of Oconto in a prominent manner, and is now
vice president and treasurer of the Holt Lumber Company of Oconto,
and president of the Oconto Canning Company. The latter concern,
capitalized at $50,000 in 1899, has been one of the important industries
of the city since its organization. Mr. Holt is also president of the
Oconto River Improvement Company and a director in the Oconto Falls
Manufacturing Company. His business connections are widespread
and of an important nature, so that he is one of the best known men in
this part of the state. The Holt Lumber Company, of which he is vice
president and a director is one of the more important lumber concerns
of Northern Wisconsin, and his other business interests are of an
equally vital nature.

William Arthur Holt was born in Lake Forest, Illinois, in 1865, and
is a son of D. R. Holt, who was for many years a leading figure in the
lumber industry of the middle west. In 1863 D. R. Holt, of Chicago,
and Uri Balcom, of Oconto, bought the Norton ]Mill property and the
firm of Holt & Balcom operated it till 1888, when Mr. Balcom sold out
and the Holt Lumber Co. was incorporated under which name it still
operates, the present officers of the firm being the sons of D. R. Holt,
who continued as the head of the concern until his death in 1899. The
present officers are : George H. Holt, of Chicago, president ; W. A.
Holt, of Oconto, vice president and treasurer; and Charles S. Holt, of
Chicago, secretary.

This representative lumber concern employs during the summer
in and about Oconto, from three hundred and fifty to four hundred men,
while in the winters, though the Oconto force is comparatively light,
their employees number from six hundred to one thousand, in the mill
and in their many camps. The firm controls vast timber holdings
throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michigan and have timber to run
them for many years.

William Arthur Holt was reared and educated in Lake Forest,
Illinois, and in 1882, when he was seventeen years of age, he entered
the employ of what is now the Holt Lumber Company in its Chi-
cago office. His duties brought him to Oconto frequently, and in 1888
he came to Oconto and settled, since which time this place has repre-

1518 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

seuted his home. Although he is still a young man, he may be said to
have spent a life time in the lumber business, so early did he begin.

Mr. Holt has never aspired to political office or preferment of any
sort, but he was twice elected mayor of Oconto, serving from 1904 to
1908.

Mr. Holt married Miss Lucy Rumsey of Lake Forest, Illinois, and
to them have been born four children : Jeannette R., Alfred H., Mary
Eleanore, and Donald R. Holt.

Charles A. Loveland. For more than forty years identified with
the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, a
resident of that city since boyhood, and a veteran Union soldier,
Charles Alyin Loveland was born at Troy, Rensselaer county. New
York, October 3, 1841. His parents were Horace and Sarah (Vail)
Loveland. His father was born in Connecticut^^ and married in New
York, where his wife was born. Horace Loveland was with the lum-
ber industry in New York state until 1855, when he moved his family
to Milwaukee. There he took up fire insurance and continued actively
in that business and was well known and honored in business circles
until his death in 1881. His wife died in 1889.

Charles A. Loveland, who was fourteen years of age when the
family moved to Wisconsin, began his education at West Troy, and
at ]\Iilwaukee became a student in the old Milwaukee University,
near the close of its existence. He then returned to New York state
and was a student in private schools until his education was finished.
He was ambitious to take up the study of law, but the country was
then involved in the war, and in 1862, before he became of age, he
enlisted as a private in what was known as the Milwaukee Regiment,
joining Company B of the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Volunteer In-
fantry, Avhich was organized and mustered in at Camp Sigel ; he went
to the front, and for nearly three years was in active service. Since
the Avar Mr. Loveland has been affiliated with the Grand Army of
the Republic.

Returning to Milwaukee, he took up the study of law in the office
of Henry L. Palmer, then one of the distinguished members of the
Milwaukee bar. After three years he was prepared for admission to
practice, but his career was deflected and he was never a practicing
lawyer. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company was then
just entering upon its period of vigorous growth. Mr. Loveland found
a clerkship in the home offices of the company, by ability and effective
service won promotion, and for several years was superintendent of
the Collection Department. In 1887 he became assistant actuary, and
two years later was made general actuary of the company, one of the
most exacting and important of the executive offices. He has re-
mained general actuary to the present time.

^^.Xl^.^

t

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1519

Mr. Loveland has given little attention to practical politics, and in
tlie early nineties transferred his long-time allegiance with the Demo-
cratic party to the Republican party, and still votes with the latter
organization. He has long been identified with the Masonic fraternity,
has taken the degrees of both the York and the Scottish Rite, having
attained thirty-second degree in the latter. He has for many years
been a member of the Grand Avenue Congregational church.

Thomas C. Clark, ]\I. D. One of the younger members of the medi-
cal profession at Oconta, who none-the-less has taken a high stand in
the community both as a citizen and as a physician and surgeon. Dr.
Clark has practiced at Oconto since December 10, 1912.

Dr. Clark was born in the city of Milwaukee, January 20, 1886, a
son of John M. and Anna (Fitzgerald) Clai-k. His father is a promi-
nent Milwaukee attorney. Reared in his native city. Dr. Clark attended
the public schools, and later graduated from Marquette Academy, and
then from Marquette University. His College Literary Degree is
Master of Arts. He pursued his medical studies in the medical depart-
ment of the Northwestern University at Chicago, where he was gradu-
ated M. D. with the class of 1912. For several months he practiced at
Milwaukee, and with that initial experience came to Oconto. Besides
his general practice he is serving on the staff of the Oconto County
Hospital, and he and Dr. P. E. Gaunt are the chief OAvuers of that
institution.

At Chicago, on June 25, 1912, Dr. Clark married Miss Grace McKin-
ley, a daughter of Milton McKinley at Chicago. They are the parents
of one child,'Grace Clark. Dr. Clark is a communicant of the Catholic
church, and affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and with the Medi-
cal Fraternity Phi Beta Pi. He also has membership in the Oconto
County Medical Society and the Wisconsin Medical Society. His offices
are in the Citizens National Bank Building.

Charles A. Best. Banking has been the field to which Mr. Best
has devoted the energies of his active career since young manhood, and
with long experience he combines an unusual equipment of ability and
skill in the organization and management of financial institutions. He
has assisted in the organization and the management of two substantial
banks in the State of Wisconsin, and is now connected with the Citizens
National Bank of Oconto, being its cashier and having been one of the
organizers in 1900, in Avhich year the bank first opened its doors for
business with Mr. Best in the position of cashier.

Charles A. Best was born at Freeport, lllmois, March 18, 1863. His
parents were Dr. Solomon Jacob and Catherine (Wolf) Best. His
father was long an able physician and surgeon at Freeport. The
mother comes of a familv of bankers, different men of the Wolf name

1520 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

having been active in banking in the state of Iowa. Charles A. Best
was reared at Freeport, where he attended the public schools, and in
1887 Avas graduated from the Freeport high school. Soon afterwards
he got his first experience as assistant cashier of the German- American
National Bank at Beatrice, Nebraska, where he remained seven years.
In 1897 Mr. Best took an active part in the organization at Kiel, Mani-
towoc county, of the State Bank of Kiel, and remained as its cashier
until 1900. In that year he played a similar role in the establishment of
the Citizens National Bank at Oconto. The Citizens National has a
capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, with surplus and profits of over
thirty thousand dollars. It is in respect to its deposits and general
facilities and strength the largest institution of its kind in Oconto
county.

In 1892 Mr. Best married Miss Ida May Forbes. She is a native of
Ottawa, Illinois, but for some time previous to her marriage was a
resident of Beatrice, Nebraska. They are the parents of one child,
Marjorie Rhea, who graduated from the Oconto high school in the class
of 1913. Fraternally Mr. Best is affiliated with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
and he and his family worship in the Presbyterian church.

Fred Schedler. This pioneer now in the seventy-fifth year of his
age, who with firm step and unclouded mind still walks the streets and
attends to his daily routine of affairs, has during a long and useful
residence in Oconto county, for almost fifty years witnessed almost its
entire development and borne a share in the course of its progress.
Starting in as a lumber jack, he was for many years w.ell known as
a hotel proprietor, and by judicious investments and able management
has become one of the most influential men in financial and civic affairs
in Oconto county. He manifests a keen and intelligent interest in all
that affects the welfare of this section of the state, and is widely and
favorably known as a man of progress and public spirit.

Mr. Schedler is vice president of the Oconto National Bank, and
has been a director in that institution since it was organized in 1886.
He became vice president in the spring of 1913, succeeding the late
William Young, who died in 1913. Mr. Schedler is also a director of
the Oconto Canning Company at Oconto. From 1867 to 1897 Mr.
Schedler was in the hotel business at Oconto, during most of that time
conducting the Schedler Hotel. His home has been in Oconto county
since December, 1864, and he is thus one of the pioneers in that region,
which when he came was a wilderness and its chief activity lumbering.

Fred Schedler was born in Prussia, Germany, April 28, 1838, a
son of Gottlieb and Susanna (Brandenberg) Schedler. Both parents
died in Germany. Reared in his native land, Mr. Schedler was educated
in the public institutions of education, and spent two years in the Prus-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1521

siau infantry. He was an agricultural expert and instructor in Ger-
many, but in spite of his congenial position and his business prospects,
after his term of army service was completed, he left Germany and
came direct to Wisconsin^ first locating at Watertown. There he started
out without capital and with complete reliance upon his individual
resources to find fortune and position in the world. He spent a couple
of years in farming near Watertown, and then in 1864 arrived at
Oconto, where he went into the woods and spent a winter in the lum-
ber camps. For two years he was employed as a sawyer in a lumber
mill, and then was employed in a local hotel. Subsequently he bought
out the man he had previously worked for, and after conducting the
hotel for some years erected a much larger and more commodious
structure, known as the Schedler House, which was conducted under
his management and proprietorship until 1897. In that year he sold
his hotel and engaged in the real estate business, and general finance,
handling loans, mortgages and other investments. Mr. Schedler owns
a large quantity of fine farm lands in Oconto county, and has many
interests in the business affairs of this section.

In 1872 at Green Bay, Mr. Schedler married Amelia Liese, also a
native of Germany. Their four children are mentioned as follows:
Herman Frank, a resident of the state of Idaho; Hermina, wife of D.
H. Mooney ; Paul Arthur, of Spokane, Washington ; engaged in the real
estate business; and Martha, wife of Charles Lingelbach of Oconto.

Hon. Victor J. O'Kelliher, mayor of Oconto and one of the best
known and most successful attorneys, was born in Oconto on March
4, 1879, and has passed his life practically within the confines of this
county. Since 1902, when he was admitted to the bar, he has been en-
gaged in practice here, and since 1911 has been a member of the well
known firm of Classon & O'Kelliher, representing perhaps the best legal
talent in the city.

Mr. O'Kelliher is the son of Jeremiah and Ellen O'Kelliher. The
father was a lumberman who came to Oconto in the fifties, and he died
in 1895, the mother surviving the death of her husband for five years.
Their son was schooled in Oconto, and when he had finished the high
school course in 1897, he devoted himself for two years to work in the
employ of a farm implement concern as a salesman. It was thus he
earned the money that made possible his college education. He entered
the law department of the University of Wisconsin in 1899 and in 1902
was graduated, being straightway admitted to the bar. He engaged in
practice in Oconto in 1903, and in June, 1911, he became the junior
member of the firm of Classon & O'Kelliher.

In the fall of 1912 Mr. O'Kelliher was elected mayor of Oconto, suc-
ceeding A. J. Caldwell in the office, and it should be noted that prior
to his election to the office of chief executive of the city, he served as

1522 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

president of the eity council for four years, so that he has long been
conversant with the administration of affairs of the city.

Mr. O'Kelliher is unmarried and his only fraternal affiliations are
maintained as a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks.

David G. Classon. When David G. Classon became county judge
of Oconto county in 1894, he was but twenty-three years of age, and
he served in that position until January, 1898, being the youngest
county judge in the state during his service. His career has been a
notable one in many respects, and as a member of the firm of Classon
& O'Kelliher, the leading law firm of Oconto, his position in profes-
sional circles in these parts is undeniably secure. Judge Classon has
served two terms as mayor of Oconto, and has also served as city attor-
ney of Oconto, so that he has given freely of his ability and his time in
the service of his city and county since he entered the lists in the legal
profession. He is a native son of the county, born here in 1870, on the
27th day of September, and he is a son of W. J. and Adeline (Leger)
Classon.

W. J. Classon was born in the state of Vermont, but was reared in
Canada, which was the native country of the mother, Adeline Leger.
They were married in ]Manitowoe, W^isconsin, -from where they removed
to Oconto in 1868. The father was a soldier in the Civil war, a member
of the Twenty-seventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and he spent his
days in private life as a farmer and merchant.

David G. Classon gained his preliminary education in the public
schools of Oconto, and in 1887 was graduated from the high school of
this eity. In the fall of 1889 he entered the University of Wisconsin,
and was graduated from the law department with the class of '91.
Immediately thereafter the young man enteffed upon the practice of
law in Oconto, becoming associated with Judge Bailey, then county
judge, continuing with the judge until 1893, when he became a partner
in the firm of Webster & Classon. In 1894 he was elevated to the county
bench, at the age of twenty-three, and he held that office for four years,
retiring in January, 1898. In 1911 he became associated in practice
with Hon. Victor J. O'Kelliher, mayor of Oconto at the present time,
and one of the prominent attorneys of the county. Judge Classon
himself served as mayor of the city from 1898 to 1900, his service com-
prising two terms of one year each, and from 1900 to 1906 he was city
attorney of Oconto, so that his public service has covered a considerable
period of years. He has practiced in all the courts of the state and of
Michigan as well, and his reputation in both states is that of a man of
superior ability, — a wise counselor and an able advocate before the bar.
He takes a prominent part in the Republican politics of the county and
is a recognized leader in the party ranks. Socially he has membership

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN - 1523

in Pine Lodge 188, A. F. & A. M., and Oconto Lodge No. 94, Knights
of Pythias. He was Grand Chancellor of the K. of P. 's in 1898-99. He
is president of the Oconto Board of Education, and is deeply interested
in educational matters affecting his city and county.

In 1899 Judge Classon was married to Miss Myrtle Orr of Oconto,
and they have four children : Abigail, Edna, Mary, and an infant son,
Richard Orr Classon.

The parents of Judge Classon continued on their Oconto county
farm until 1893, when they took up their residence in the city of Oconto,
and here the father was occupied in the grocery business for some
years. He died August 22, 1913.

George Walsh Browne. During the latter half of the nineties,
when the bicycle craze was at its height all over the country, George
W. Browne got his first business experience with one of the well
known companies handling bicycles in Chicago. He is one of the men
who followed the development of the business through its automo-
bile stage, and is now one of the foremost men in the automobile trade
of Wisconsin. Mr. Browne is president of the George W. Browne
Automobile Company of Milwaukee, the title of the retail department
of his business, and is also president of the Overland- Wisconsin Com-
pany, the corporation name under which he does his extensive whole-
sale business. As one of the best known and most enterprising busi-
ness men of Milwaukee, Mr. Browne is among the men who came up
from the ranks, and his success can properly be credited to his own
initiative and splendid energy.

George Walsh Browne was born at Stanberry, Missouri, July 15,
1880, a son of the late Mark F. Browne, and his wife Sarah Eleanor
(Randolph) Browne. Sarah Eleanor Randolph who was born at
Louisville, Kentucky, July 4, 1856, was married to Mark F. Browne
in April, 1872. Mark F. Browne was born at Geneva, Illinois, April
13, 1843, his people being Kentuckians, who had made the trip to
northern Illinois in a wagon during the early day and located among
the early settlers at Geneva. Mark F. Browne, who died at the home
of his son George in Milwaukee on January 6, 1913, was reared in
Geneva, Illinois, was in the lumber business for a number of years,
and for a long time was the landlord of the Merchants House at Mo-
berly, Missouri. He was a railroad man, and had a long period of
service as conductor on the Missouri Pacific. During the latter years
of his active career he was in the mining, machinery and supply busi-
ness at Joplin, Missouri, handling his goods under the name of the
Joplin Supply Company. He came to Milwaukee about two years
before his death, and he is buried at Geneva, Illinois, his birthplace.
He was one of a family of eleven children, only one of whom survived
him. Fraternally he was an active Mason and was past Grand Master

1524 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

of the Lodge of Moberly. Sarah Eleanor Randolph, the mother, al-
though born in Kentucky, was of the old family of Randolphs of Vir-
ginia, and one of her brothers, Lieutenant Randolph, was killed in the
Civil war. She was left an orphan and was reared by an aunt and
uncle named Rhodes, whose name she bore previous to her mar-
riage. She was a woman of exceptional mental powers, and fine char-
acter, and was one of the first woman graduates of Rush Medical Col-
lege. Her death occurred February 15, 1912. The children of Mark
F. Browne and wife were: Lillian Gay, born April 11, 1873; James
Clarke born August 29, 1875; George Walsh, born July 15, 1880;
Frank Joy and Perry Lee, twins, born February 8, 1883 ; Gladys Marie,
born October 19, 1890. James Clarke died March 1, 1878, Frank Joy
died July 19, 1883, and Perry Lee died August 2, 1883, all being buried
in Brunswick, Missouri. George W. Browne is the only son now living
and he has tAvo sisters, Mrs. W. W. Callahan, of Chicago, and Mrs.
Robert Keane, of New York City.

George W. Browne received his education in the public schools of
Chicago, after which he attended Racine College at Racine in 1895 for
one year. He was then fifteen years of age, and from that time to
the present has been pulling his own weight, and latterly much more
besides. His first work was for the Lake Shore & Rock Island Track
Elevation Company of Chicago, with which concern he remained two
years. He then entered the employ of the Mead Cycle Company of
Chicago in the bicycle trade, and continued with that firm until 1903.
In the meantime the automobile business had begun to develop to im-
portant proportions, and he left to take employment with the
Cadillac Automobile Company in Chicago, continuing with them as
salesman during 1903-1904. In 1905 he began handling the Ford Auto-
mobiles in Chicago, and in 1906 sold the Stoddard-Dayton in that
city. Up to June of 1907 he was representing the Thomas Flyer in
Chicago. In June, 1907, Mr. Browne transferred his field to Mil-
waukee, and has since that time been engaged in business for himself.
During 1907-09, he handled the Mitchell automobile, and in 1910 took
the Overland, a machine Avhich he still represents. He is now state
representative of the Willys-Overland Company of Toledo, and super-
vises the sales of sixty-five agents throughout the state of Wiscon-
sin. He has incorporated the retail depai-tment of his business under
the name of the George W. Browne Automobile Company, and be-
sides the Overland carries the Stutz car as a side line. To care for
the wholesale end of his business he incorporated the Overland-Wis-
consin Company, the incorporation of both firms having been made
on August 7, 1912. Mr. Browne is owner of all the stock except two
shares in each company, and is president of each. During the first
quarter of the year 1913, his books showed sales of twelve hundred
and fifty Overland cars, as compared with seven hundred and fifty

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1525

during the same period in 1912. The business of his companies now
aggregate more than a million dollars each year. The place of business
is at 510-16 Broadway and is the largest automobile salesroom in
Wisconsin. A new feature has been added therein, that of suspend-
ing automobiles from the ceiling. The capacity of the place is 400
machines.

Mr. Browne is popular in both business and social circles in Mil-
waukee. He is affiliated with Milwaukee Lodge, No. 46, B. P. 0. E.
with the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Milwaukee Automobile Club,
the Milwaukee Sharpshooters Gun Club, the Blue Mound Country
Club and has membership in the Merchants & Manufacturers Asso-
ciation. A lover of music, Mr. Browne was formerly a member of
the trio in the Church of the Ascension at Chicago, a high Episcopal
church. He is very fond of outdoor life, as would be natural in an
automobile man, and besides motoring he is fond of golf and all other
outdoor sports, including a particular penchant for duck hunting.

On December 15, 1906, in Chicago, Mr. Browne married Miss Jane
Olga Johnson, a daughter of the late A. J. Johnson, who was the
founder of the furniture manufacturing business in Chicago now car-
ried on by his son. Mrs. Browne was born and educated in Chicago,
where her mother still lives. Mr. and Mrs. Browne have two children :
George W. Jr., and Jane Olga, both of whom were born in Milwaukee.

Albert Rusch. The present sheriff of Oconto county. Albert Rusch,
has lived in this section of Wisconsin nearly all his life, a period of
more than forty years, and his family were among the pioneers of
Oconto county. He has long enjoyed the high esteem of his fellow citi-
zens, and his election to his present office was but an evidence of his
personal popularity and the judgment of the people of Oconto county,
that he was the best equipped man for the place. He was elected on
the Republican ticket in the fall of 1912, and began his official duties on
the first Monday in January of the following year. In 1910 Mr. Rusch
was a candidate for this office, also on the Republican ticket, but was
defeated by Former Sheriff Burns. It was a close race, and a margin
of only twenty-five votes prevented him from entering the office two
years before he did. In 1912, though in a Democratic year, Mr. Rusch
was elected by a plurality of twelve hundred and fifty-eight.

Mr. Rusch 's residence in Oconto county dates from September, 1871.
He Avas born in Germany, August 14, 1864, a son of Godfried and Louisa
Rusch. The mother died in 1907 at the advanced age of eighty-orie,
while the father is still living and has his home with Sheriff Rusch.
Albert Rusch was eight years old when the family left Germany and
crossed the ocean to America, going direct to Oconto county, in Wis-
consin. The father settled at Stiles in this county, and in that day when
the lumber industrv was the chief concern of this section of the state

1526 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

the father fouud employmeut as a mill worker, aud also in the lumber
camps iu the woods, following that line of vocation until he retired. In
1897 the family moved to the city of Oconto, where Albert finished a
schooling begun in the district schools.

He was only a boy when he began eai'ning his own way, and has
ahvays relied on hard work and industry to put him ahead in the world.
He worked around the saw mills for a time, and afterwards learned
the shoemaker's trade, at which he was employed most of the time until
he entered the office of sheriff. Mr. Rusch entered upon his official
duties with a thorough familiarity with the sheriff's office. He has been
connected oft' and on with the sheriff's office since 1894, having served
as deputy and as under sheriff, and in 1897 Governor Edward Scofield
appointed him to fill out an unexpired term of sheriff, caused by the
death of Charles Quirt, who died while still in office. Thus ]\Ir. Rusch
filled the office thirteen months during 1897-98.

On February 5, 1891, Mr. Rusch married Miss Mary Eichman, of
the town of Pensaukee in Oconto county. The six children born to
their marriage are: Louise, Carl, Florence, Marie, Henrietta, and
Harold. The fraternal affiliations of Mr. Rusch are with the Equitable
Fraternal Union and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Arthur E. Cleveland. There is perhaps no better known citizen
in Oconto county than Arthur E. Cleveland, whose residence here
extends over a period of thirty-seven years. He is now ably serving as
treasurer of Oconto county, to which office he was elected in 1912 on
the Republican ticket, assuming the duties of the office on Januaxy 6,
1913, and succeeding J. E. Keefe therein. Mr. Cleveland was born in
Kewaunee county, Wisconsin, near Kewaunee, on March 29, 1874, and
is a son of Levi and Nancy (Major) Cleveland, who have been residents
of the state for more than forty years.

Levi Cleveland came from New York state, while the mother is Cana-
dian born, and they were married in Michigan. In 1877 they moved
from Kewaunee county, where they had settled after their marriage,
and located in the town of Pensaukee, in Oconto county, and they are
still residents thereabout, maintaining their home in Oconto Falls, and
living retired.

Arthur E. Cleveland was reared on the Pensaukee farm, the place
now being called Morgan. He attended the schools of the community
and later entered the Valparaiso Indiana Normal School, after he had
finished the Oconto high school. He taught school in Oconto county
for three years, and since that time he has been chiefly active as a
farmer. He owned a farm of eighty acres in the town of Morgan,
Oconto county, which he operated until 1905, when he sold it and went
to Green Bay, there engaging in the grocery business. He remained
thus occupied for about a year, when he moved to Deer Lodge, Montana,

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1527

and there for some few months he ran a moving picture show, after
which he returned to Oconto and resumed his farming activities until
he entered upon the duties of his office as county treasurer some months
ago.

While a resident of Morgan Mr. Cleveland served his town as town
clerk for five years, that being his first public service.

In 1898 Mr. Cleveland was married to Miss Stella Barnum, of Chi-
cago, Illinois, and they have one child, Esther Cleveland. Mr. Cleve-
land is a member of the Fraternal Reserve Association, of the Yeomen,
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

A citizen of the highest order, Mr. Cleveland has taken his full share
in the civic and other responsibilities of the communal life, and takes
his place among the most highly esteemed men of the county, where he
has lived for so many years.

Hunter C. Ore. All his life Hunter C. Orr has been a resident of
Oconto county and though he is yet in his early manhood, he has al-
ready come to occupy a prominent place in the city of Oconto and in
the county, giving promise of a greater prominence in the years to
come, and a greater public service on his part. He is now serving as
Countj^ Clerk of Oconto county, an office to which he was elected in the
fall of 1912, and the duties of which he assumed on January 6, 1913.
He succeeded Charles Norton in the office, that gentleman now holding
the office of Deputy Register of Deeds.

Born on a farm in Oconto county, on August 22, 1882, Hunter C.
Orr is the son of J. R. and Lanie (Helmerick) Orr, both of whom are
still living, and now residents of Flint, Michigan. They came to Oconto
in the seventies, and in this county long maintained their residence.
The mother was born in old Fort Howard, now known as Green Bay,
Wisconsin, and her father was a native of Germany, coming to Wiscon-
sin as a boy. His name was Fred Helmerick, long deceased, but for
many years a resident of Green Bay. J. R. Orr, the father of Hunter C.
Orr, was born in Pennsylvania, and he came to Wisconsin as a boy of
twelve years. His father, Hunter Orr, owned a saw mill in Oconto
in the seventies and was fairly successful. Up to 1910 the parents
of Hunter C. Orr of this reveiw made their home in the town of Abrams,
and in that year they sold their farm, bought a place in the vicinity of
Flint, Michigan, and there they now make their home, as has been pre-
viously stated.

Hunter C. Orr was reared on his father's farm and he attended the
country schools as he was privileged to, and spent a good deal of his
time on the home farm. When he reached young manhood he went into
the lumberwoods and worked there for a time, then turned his atten-
tion to railroading and up to January, 1910, he was employed as a
switchman. At that time his usefulness as a switchman was destroved

1528 HISTORY OF WLSCONSIX

by the loss of his right leg, which was severed two and a half inches
below the knee, and on October 20, 1912, he underwent an operation
through which he lost his left leg just above the knee. His election to
the office of county clerk has made it possible for him to maintain him-
self and his family in a suitable manner, despite his unfortunate state,
and it is believed that he will be continued in the office indefinitely,—
certainly as long as the quality and character of his service is main-
tained up to its present standard.

Mr. Orr was married on December 21, 1909, to Miss Lenora Wright,
of Oconto, Wisconsin, a daughter of George and Addie (Sumberg)
Wright. The father, a well known scaler of these parts, died in 1910,
while the mother still lives.

Mr. Orr is a member of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen.

Oakland A. Ellis. Forty-eight years of continuous residence in
Oconto gives to Oakland A. Ellis a place of prominence in business and
other circles of the community that is well nigh incontestible. As
president of the Citizens' National Bank, his position would be assured,
but he is also known as secretary, treasurer and manager of the Oconto
Company, and for twenty years he has been chairman of the Oconto
County Board of Supervisors.

Oakland A. Ellis came to Wisconsin from the state of Maine, where
he was born in Oldtowu, on October 20, 1840, the son of William and
Miranda Ellis. When he was sixteen years old Mr. Ellis took into his
own hands the resj^onsibility for his future success or failure, but with
a well defined idea of his own part as to which it should be, and at that
age went to work for the firm of Clark, How & Demerrett, of Boston,
his work taking him to Brompton Falls, Quebec, Canada, in the mills
of that then well known lumber company. Mr. Ellis continued in mill
work until he had acquainted himself with practically every branch
of the business, traveling all over the country and stopping wherever
lumber mills were found. In 1862 he enlisted in Company I of the
Twenty-Eighth Volunteer Infantry, and for two years he participated
with his regiment in the activities of the Civil war, seeing much of
service and becoming acquainted with the hardships of war in all its
unattractiveness and miser3^ When he left the service upon the ex-
piration of his two year enlistment period, he went to Massachusetts
and engaged in the cotton mill business, continuing thus until he came
to Wisconsin. He located first at Peshtigo, then in its prime as a lum-
ber center, and was employed by the Peshtigo Company of that place
until he came to Oconto a year later.

Arriving in Oconto in about 1866, his first work was in the store of
Holt & Baleom, the firm now being known as the Holt Lumber Com-
pany, and he was in their store and office for three years. On March
17, 1869, he became manager of the Oconto Company, which position

-^(fU:^-^^^^,^ -^^^L^^rS^^^

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1529

he has retained continuously since that time, advancing in the favor
of the concern until he became a partner, and later becoming secretary
and treasurer of the business, as well as its general manager.

For years Mr. Ellis was a director in the Citizens' National Bank,
and in 1910 he became president, it being one of the most solid financial
institutions in the county. A Republican of stanch order, Mr. Ellis
has been a delegate to certain national conventions, among them the
one that nominated William McKinley. He is one of the most public-
spirited citizens of the community, up and doing in the best interests
of the city at all times, and he is now serving as chairman of the Board
of Trustees of the Farnsworth Public Library of Oconto, the same
having been donated by George Farnsworth, who was the father-in-law
of Mr. Ellis.

In 1869 Mr. Ellis married Miss Carline E. Farnsworth, of Oconto,
BJid to them have been born three children. Gertrude, George W., a
resident of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Fred C. Ellis, of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.

Leander Choate. In the death of Leander Choate on October 18,
1909, the City of Oshkosh and the State of Wisconsin lost a remarkable
citizen and benefactor. Leander Choate was a New Englander, pos-
sessed of all the rugged native virtues and wholesome training of
that stock; was one of the pioneers in Wisconsin, in the development
of the great lumber industry, and a man of such progress and enter-
prise that his business activities were never confined to any one
channel. As a laborer, a farmer, a merchant a banker, a manufacturer,
a financier, and a philanthropist, he became acquainted with almost
all avenues of business life. His philanthropy was not of the ordi-
nary kind, and did not consist so much in the giving of generous
sums of money to institutions and organizations, although his con-
tributions in this respect were hardly less important than those of any
Wisconsin citizen, but the benevolence by which he won himself a
permanent place in the affections of men was his spirit and practice
of helpfulness to younger men. It is said that on the day of his burial,
the flags on a number of factories in Oshkosh were placed at half-
mast, out of respect to the memory of the man whose encouragement
and helpfulness had been the chief factors in the success of the heads
and managers of those industries.

From a biography and character sketch, written after the death of
Leander Choate, and containing an analysis and appreciative esti-
mate of the life and services of the late Oshkosh citizen, the greater
part of the following review of that life is taken.

Leander Choate was born on his father's somewhat barren, but
picturesque, farm near the little hamlet of South Bridgton, Maine,
on November 17, 1834. He was of the seventh generation in descent

1530 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

from John Choate, who had come to Ipswich, of Massachusetts liay
Province, previous to 1643. Of the early generations of the family
little is known. The old homestead about Ipswich is even to the
present time eloquent of their familiarity with honest toil, and with
the homes of brave, true-hearted Puritan families. From that early
settlement on the shore of Cape Ann, Ebenezer Choate, grandfather
of Leander, removed in 1800 to Bridgton, Maine. He brought with
him his wife, who was Elizabeth Choate and four small children.
Ebenezer Choate had served in the Continental army during the
Revolutionary war, going in as a private at the age of fifteen in 1779,
and was discharged May 10, 1782. His early life thereafter was spent
on the high seas, as a sailor, and he rose to the command of a vessel.
While a man of inferior education, owing to lack of early opportu-
nities, he did for fifty years uphold a useful part in promoting the social
and moral welfare of the community in which he lived.

Nehemiali Choate, second son in the family of Ebenezer was born at
Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1799, was gifted with a vigorous consti-
tution, was early inured to toil, and the duties of the farm and the
forest were no hardship to him. At the age of thirty he married
Rebecca Kimball, who was born at Andover, Massachusetts, fifteen
days before her husband's birth. For a homestead they bought land
adjoining his father's farm, including the summit of Choate Hill.
Farm life in Maine at that time was of primitive simplicity. The farm
was made to yield all supplies of household wants. There was need of
tillage and pasturage, of fuel and timber. Wheat and corn were grown
for the table, flax and wool for the spinning wheel and the loom.
Topographically also the farm was one to inspire an early life. In
the clear atmosphere among the wooded hills, and with an inspiring
view of the Presidential group of the White Mountains in the dis-
tance, all the surroundings were those of quiet beauty and such as
would inevitably leave their impress for good upon any human exist-
ence begun and continued for any length of time in their midst. The
little community of South Bridgton was one of intellectual and religi-
ous culture, and Nehemiah Choate was one of the leaders, being the
last surviving member of the Congregational parish, in which he was
a charter member.

Such were the ancestry and the home into which Leander Choate
was born. He was the second in a family of five children, and his
older brother was lame from infancy, a circumstance which made it
necessary that the second son become his father's help on the farm
as early and as fast as his strength could be of service. The life
was one of toil and more or less hardships, but the youth had inher-
ited a good constitution and a ready spirit of helpfulness. There was
little time left for schooling, and the schools were poor in equipment
and instruction, there being but two short terms each year, one in the

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1531

summer, when the boy was at work in the fields, and the other in the
winter when the frigid character of tlie season handicapped attend-
ance. To fill this gap, Leander Choate was fortunate in possessing a
mother who was an experienced teacher, and who could supplement
the work of the school, and in a mother's way supply its deficiencies.
The home lessons were those of courage and self-reliance, and the
circumstances of the family were calculated to enforce the instruction.
At the age of seventeen the son undertook to relieve his father of the
burden of debt which had been incurred in rebuilding the farmhouse,
which had been destroyed by fire a few years before. The amount of
the debt was some two hundred and fifty dollars. This he engaged
himself to pay, if his father woiild relinquish to him his time, so that
he could act for himself as if he had reached his majority. It was not
an uncommon practice at that period for the son of a poor family to
"Buy his time." as it was said. Farm labor at which he had his
only training was poorly paid, the hours were long, and Leander
Choate was anxious to open up other avenues of enterprise and at the
earliest possible time get experience which would train his strong
hands and stout heart and ready will for the larger things of life. In
due time the debt was paid, and at his arrival at full age, he had
valuable experience, his self-reliance and credit were strengthened
in his neighborhood, but his supply of real money was probably very
small. There can- be no doubt that this experience of his early years
directed his helpfulness in later life to worthy young men, who stood
in need of friendly aid. He had realized the need of help in his own
ease, and had seen how much an earnest upright life is worth to the
world.

When Leander Choate was twenty-one years of age, he entered
the employment of Choate & Tolman, wood and coal dealers of Lynn,
Massachusetts. The senior member of this firm was Alden Choate,
his uncle. After a year and a half with this company, he purchased
a parcel express route, between Boston and Charlestown. This busi-
ness he carried on until 1857, when he removed to Wisconsin, and
engaged in what was destined to be the work of his life. At this
point the biographer, in explanation of the space devoted to the early
years of Mr. Choate, quotes a remark made by the latter after he had
reached the full tide of prosperity to the effect that it had cost him
more effort to gain the first thousand dollars than to add many thou-
sands that had come to him later.

The firm of Choate & Tolman removed from Massachusetts to Wis-
consin, and Leander Choate went with them. The new field was suited
to his tastes and to his training. He knew what lumbering was in
Maine, the conditions were but little different in Northern Wisconsin.
He was employed to oversee the work in the woods. The young lumber-
man's genius for contrivance enabled- him to master all matters of de-

1532 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

tails, as fast as they arose. He made himself conversant with every de-
partment of the work, from the cutting to the marketing. The men
with whom he was associated were most of them from Maine. They had
helped to exhaust the resoui'ces of the western part of that state, and
they were ready to do the same for northern Wisconsin and Michi-
gan. It was the longer range of Mr. Choate's vision that led to his
success. Although he was running mills almost as long as he lived,
yet he began early to buy timber for investment. He foresaw the
rapid increase in the value of thes6 lands and the profits of husbanding
resources for future needs.

When Leander Choate began business for himself in 1862 he
became associated with Mr. James M. Bray. The firm of Bray &
Choate continued in business until the death of Mr. Bray, only a few
months before the death of his junior partner. Owing to the infirmity
of the senior member, the burden of managing the diverse interests of
the company had for a number of j^ears fallen heavily upon the shoul-
ders of Mr. Choate. They had mills on the Wisconsin and the Oconto
River, and at Choate, Michigan. In the nineties their average annual
cutting was forty million feet. At that time, Mr. Choate was also
interested in the Lake Shore Company at Tomahawk Lake, which
cuts twelve million a year. All this time Mr. Choate's policy Avas to
buy timber for holding, not for marketing.

In addition to these lumbering operations, which would have been
enough to employ, if not to tax, the energies of almost any man, Lean-
der Choate had been president of the Wolf River Lumber Company,
vice president of the H. W. Wright Lumber Company, vice president of
the Merrill Boom Company at Merrill, Wisconsin. He was president of
the Choate-Hollister Furniture Company, vice president of the San-
ford Logging Tool Company, and president of the Oshkosh Log and
Lumber Company. He was also coiniected with the Oshkosh Water
Works Company, and the Wisconsin Electric Railway Company.

At the time of his death Mr. Choate was president of the Oshkosh
Savings and Trust Company, president of the Davis-Hansen Company,
president of the Co-Operative Coal & lee Company, president of The
Oshkosh Grass Matting Company, president of the Wegner Fuel Com-
pany, president of the Coal Briquette Machine Company, president of
The Oshkosh Clothing Manufacturing Company, vice president of the
Oshkosh Logging Tool Company, vice president of the Oshkosh Muslin
Underwear Company, stockholder in the Wolf River Paper and Fiber
Company of Shawano, stockholder in the Sehmit Brothers Trunk
Company, trustee of the Oshkosh Public Library and trustee of the
First Congregational church of that city.

The industrial enterprises and the public interests in which Leander
Choate bore so heavy a responsibility, testify to that esteem in which
he was held among men of affairs. His fellow citizens, who had known

HISTOEY OF WISCONSIN 1533

him intimately for many years, could well say of him that "He was
one of the leading citizens and one of the best friends of Oshkosh."
Honesty was the cardinal virtue which marked his life. He was integ-
rity personified. He lent his aid to many worthy enterprises and to
many men. He was thoroughly interested in all that pertained to the
business welfare of the city. There was never a project mentioned
that did not receive his support, moral and financial, if it was worthy
of support at all. Morally, he was as clean as a man can be. He was
courteous, unassuming, and, above all, he was charitable. I never
heard him speak ill of any one. He loved his fellowmen, and always
displayed the true Christian spirit."

In his financial relations the strength of Mr. Choate 's character was
recognized. To what extent he held the confidence of his associates
may be seen from the number and the importance of those trusts
which he had in his keeping. He was president of the Commercial
National Bank of Oshkosh, of the National Bank of Manitowoc, and
of the First National Bank of Stoughton; vice president of the First
National Bank of New London, director of the Marine National Bank
of Milwaukee, of the First National Bank of Marshfield.

One who had been very close to him in business relations said for
publication at the time of his death: "Modest, unassuming, quiet,
retiring, willing to trust humanity for humanity's sake; charitable in
his estimate of men; a man of broad ideals, ready to engage in large
enterprises, possessing an intuitive discernment wonderfully remark-
able ; a man whose judgment was eagerly sought by men engaged in
new projects, particularly, in development of new countries, timber-
lands, saw mills, railroad and like enterprises — such a man Avas
Leander Choate."

This comprehensive characterization of the man shows many of
his qualities. It leads easily to the opinion expressed by another of
his fellow citizens on the same occasion: "He was kind and just, and
he accepted the paternal role for more than one young man in Osh-
kosh for many years. It was his habit to assist young men who were
anxious to start in business. More than one successful business man
of this city owes much to Mr. Choate, though he has repaid all monetarj'
loans. He was always ready to give audience to an.y ambitious young
man if this one appeared to be square, and he was a good judge of
human nature. He was himself so honest and square that he endeav-
ored to attribute these qualities to others. It was a very rare thing
for him to speak a word of censure of any one. He tried to palliate
and excuse others' faults."

Besides his many business associates Mdio testified to the eminent
qualities of his ability and personal integrity, one who had known him
intimately in other relations than those of the business world, was his
pastor, who said: "One of the characteristics of Mr. Choate 's life

1534 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

that profoundly impressed me was his unassuming, unostentatious
nature. I was also impressed with the absolute integrity and honor
that marked all his business and social relationship. I have met with
many instances of his financial and sympathetic helpfulness. I know
young men who have told me that they owed their start in life to Mr.
Choate's kindly financial aid. All his benefactions were marked by
modesty, and there are innumerable instances of his aid that were
known only to himself and his beneficiaries.

"Although he had an undemonstrative nature, he was at heart a
deeply religious man, broad and generous in his conceptions of religion
and life. He was an attendant at the services of my church, and took
an earnest interest in everything that pertained to the welfare of
that organization. He was the chairman of the advisory committee of
the new church edifice and did much towards that enterprise."

The public press of the state gave much space in both the news
and editorial column to the life and services of Leander Choate. The
Daily Northwestern said editorially: "The announcement was made

this morning that Leander Choate had passed away Mr.

Choate was one of the real leaders in business circles, and in business
activities, and his passing will make a difference that will be noticed
and felt by many.

"For over a half century, Mr. Choate had resided in Oshkosh,
coming to this place when it was nothing more than a struggling vil-
lage in the western wilderness. He and Oshkosh grew up together, as
it were, and their success and eventual prosperity were accomplished
along the same general lines and conditioned on the same general
characteristics. Mr. Choate was always known as an earnest and
sincere worker, faithful and progressive, and ever ready to help others
succeed at the same time with himself. Many a business man has had
reason to thank Leander Choate for a helping hand extended in time
of need, while his charities and benefactions were many and con-
scientiously generous.

"Personally, Mr. Choate was modest and unassuming, mild man-
nered and companionable to a marked degree, and he has a host of
friends who have placed a high valuation on his friendship. He will
be missed perhaps as much as any resident of Oshkosh ; yet, in con-
templation of the full fruition of his long and useful life there can
be no cause for regret other than the usual one, when we hate to see
our good friends and representative citizens called away. His record
is finished, however, and it is a record to be proud of, and to stand
as an example for others. For he was a good citizen, a kind and con-
siderate friend, and a man who helped to make the world brighter for
others. ' '

Leander Choate was married December 19, 1858, to his cousin,
Adeline Pratt Choate, daughter of Alden and Mary Ann (Sherman)

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1535

Clioate. The children of their marriage, with records of birtli aud
death are as follows : lola Amelia, born June 10, 1860, died December
21, 1862; Frank Lee, born May 21, 1864, died December 20, 1888;
George, born August 25, 1867, died Julj' 27, 1877 ; Lulu, born October
30, 1875, died May 16, 1889 ; Ona Irene, born November 13, 1878, died
November 12, 1888. Only one child grew to adult years, and he with
two others were taken from the happy family cii^cle within the brief
period between November, 1888, and May, 1889. To help him bear
this heavy load of sorrow, there walked through their married life of
more than fifty years, close by his side, the devoted wife and mother
of his children, supporting him with the strength of Avoman's nature.
On the occasion of their golden wedding, December 19, 1908, the press
of the city spoke for the whole community in saying of Mrs. Clioate :
"His estimable wife has always been prominent in club work and in
all lines of endeavor, in which public spirited and whole-souled women
take interest. Both have been tried and true, and both enjoy the
confidence, esteem and unbounded respect of the members of the com-
munity in which they live."

It would burden the pages of this work and entail much repetition
to quote further from the many eulogies and resolutions and indi-
vidual expressions of esteem which appeared at the time of Leander
Choate's passing. Sufficient has been said to indicate that a great
man was taken from a community where he had lived fifty years and
where his enterprise and character had much enriched, and it will
appropriately conclude this ai-tiele to quote a few paragraphs from a
memorial address delivered at the Elks Memorial Service.

"Leander Choate knew the sunshine of a cheerful disposition and
the shadow of adversity, the joys of friendships and the sadness of
estrangement, the hope of children and the disappointment of their
deaths, the gratification of success, and the bitterness of defeat, the
reason of a strong mind, and the passion of great desires, the love of
truth and honesty, and the hatred of deceit. He knew the days of
beautiful promise, and unbounded ambition. The gloomy nights of
sorrow and baffled hopes; the melancholy seasons of disease, waiting,
and death. He experienced the childish joys and pleasure of a farm-
er's son, the ambitions of an early pioneer with an empire to build, the
responsibilities of vast enterprises, the memory in old age of a great
life's work; and, lastly, like the brave, courageous man that he was,
he went to meet his Maker.

"Leander Choate exemplified, as few men have, the teachings of our
great order, Charity, Justice, and Brotherly Love. His life should
be an inspiration to us all.

"To those who knew him only in his public life, who knew him
only by reputation and report, who were not so fortunate as to share
his acquaintance, his friendship, or his love ; their loss, while not to

1536 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

be compared with. ours, is a serious oue. This commuuity is the richer
for his having lived in it. This city, this county, and this state are
larger and more prosperous for his having lived in them. Our stand-
ards of citizenship are higher. We have more faith in the honesty
and in the integrity of mankind, especially of successful business men.
No man can live so pure and unselfish a life for more than half a
century and fail to be a benefit to every man, woman and child in
his vicinity.

"Leander Choate's greatest legacy is the beautiful lesson of his
life and all the world must be the better for it. To those of us who
have known his helping hand, to those of us that have been benefited
by his wise counsel, and his sound advice, to those of us who have
had the inspiration of his faith, his goodness, his honesty, and his
charity, the loss is irreparable. We must find consolation in the one
thing left to us — memory. Memories, those sweet-voiced spirits of the
past, remain with us to cheer us in our time of need. They help us to
remember the lessons taught by his unselfish life. They strengthen us
to emulate and profit by his example. Their name is legion, and they
are priceless.

"They do not ask who have known his past,

' Do such men really live ? '
One might better ask. While memories last,

'Do such men ever die?' "

Alphonse Pierre. For twenty years Alphouse Pierre has been
engaged as a grain dealer in Oconto, and the passing of those years
has been sufficient to gain for him a place of no little prominence
among the business people of the city and county. He is the owner of
a large grain elevator at this point as well as the owner of three mam-
moth grain warehouses and a feed mill, all in Oconto, and all consid-
ered, his operations have been of an order well calculated to give him a
leading place in business circles of the city. Mr. Pierre is a native
son of Wisconsin, born in Door county, on June 13, 1864, and he is the
son of Frank and Angeline (DeKiser) Pierre, both born in Belgium.

Frank and Angeline Pierre came to Wisconsin in 1858, settling on
a Door county farm, there continuing for many years. They pros-
pered, and in time felt themselves able to retire from business so that
for some years past they have been living quietly at Beaver, in Mari-
nette county, Wisconsin.

Alphonse Pierre continued on the Door county farm with his par-
ents until he was seventeen years of age, and his education was
gained in the country schools. His first work was in a printing office
at Sturgeon Bay, where he filled the undignified post of "devil" to
the proprietor of the shop, and he held that post for a year or more.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1537

In the meantime his father had entered into the flour mill business at
Brussells, in Door county, and the boy gave up his work in the printing
office and returned home to help in the mill, in which he continued until
he first came to Oconto in 1866. Settling here, he established a small
feed store, conducting the same more or less successfully for two years,
and then withdrawing from the enterprise and going to Minneapolis,
where he identified himself with the grain business in varied capacities.
He remained there for several years learning much of the elevator
business, in fact, thoroughly familiarizing himself with the enterprise,
and in 1893 he returned to Oconto and established the business that
has with the passing years assumed the most generous proportions and
brought to Mr. Pierre a considerable wealth and position in the city.
In 1903 he purchased a large grain elevator, the same having a capacity
of 15,000 bushels, the elevator then being located at Green Bay, "Wis-
consin. In the summer of that year he moved the elevator to Oconto,
floating it down Green Bay, a most unprecedented method of moving
freight elevators, but one that proved most successful in his case. His
entire business career has been characterized by initiative and enter-
prise, and his success is the result of his sturdy application to business
and the constant adherence to business principle of the highest order, so
that he is not indebted to the elements of chance or luck for any of his
successes in his business career.

Mr. Pierre was married on February 28, 1892, to Lucy, a daughter
of the late Samuel Brazeau, one time a well known merchant of Oconto,
a member of the firm of Brazeau Brothers, who were established in
business here as early as 1870. To Mr. and Mrs. Pierre have been born
seven children, who are named here in the order of their birth: May;
Esther ; Ruth ; Agnes ; Alphonse, Jr. ; Gabriel ; and Helen Javita.

Mr. Pierre is a member of the National Grain Dealers' Association,
and his fraternal relations are maintained as a member of the Benevolent
a2id Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America and the
Equitable Fraternal Union.

A man of excellent character and standing in his community. j\Ir.
Pierre takes a prominent place in the administration of civic and politi-
cal affairs of the city, and is now a member of the Board of Supervisors,
serving the west ward of the city of Oconto on the board. He is a suc-
cessful and enterprising man, well established among his fellow men,
and in every way entitled to a place in a historical and biographical
work of the nature of this publication.

Claude E. Armstrong, M. D. For twenty years Dr. Armstrong
has quietly performed his round of professional services and duties at
Oconto and in Oconto county, and is not only one of the oldest but one
of the most highly esteemed practitioners of that state. A physician
cannot live and practice his calling for twenty years in one locality
without possessing a faithful character and a high ability and skill,

1538 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

qualities which have contributed to make the splendid type of family
physician known both in literature and in actual life.

Claude E. Armstrong began practice at Oconto in the fall of 1893.
The doctor is a graduate of the medical department of Northwestern
University at Chicago, with the class of 1883. His first practical Avork
in his profession was at Lomira in Dodge county, Wisconsin, where he
remained a year and a half. During the following five years he was
connected with the State Hospital for Insane at Mendota, where he
was for a time second assistant physician and then first assistant physi-
cian. From the hospital he moved to Fond du Lac, and after a few
months to his old home town of Oakfield in Fond du Lac county, where
he was for a short time in partnership with Dr. William Moore. From
there he moved to Oconto, where he has since enjoyed a large patronage,
and a substantial position in the community.

Dr. Armstrong was born in Sussex, Wisconsin, August 18, 1861,
a son of Rev. William C. and Eliza Turner Armstrong. His mother was
born in London, England, while the father was a native of West Vir-
ginia, and devoted his life to the ministry of the Episcopalian church.
The grandfather was a physician. The Rev. William C. Armstrong
died in 1888, and the mother passed away when her son Claude was six
months old. Claude E. Armstrong was reared at Oakfield, in Fond du
Lac county, and also spent part of his youth at Waupaca, where he
attended the high school. On leaving school at Waupaca, he entered
medical college, and for thirty years has been continuously devoted to
his professional work.

In 1889 Dr. Armstrong married Emma Penewell, of Stoughton,
Wisconsin. Four children were born to their union, mentioned as fol-
lows: Marie Adele, who died at the age of three and a half years;
June, who died when two weeks old; Claudine E., and William. Dr.
Armstrong has membership in the Oconto Medical Society, which he
has served as president; in the Fox River Medical Society, and the
Wisconsin State Society. The doctor is affiliated with the Masonic
Order, and worships in the Episcopal church.

M. H. Mould. A banker at Baraboo, ]\Ir. ;Mould represents a
pioneer family of Sauk county, started out when a boy to make his
living by hard manual labor, and has for a number of years been one
of the leading bankers in this section of the state. For several years
he held the position of president of the First National Bank, but now
is its cashier and active manager. The First National Bank of Baraboo
was founded in 1885, one of its organizers having been T. M. Warren.
It was reorganized in 1905, and at that time Mr. Mould assumed the
active management of the office of cashier. The First National is in
many ways a representative institution being owned and controlled by
seventy-five persons, all of them prosperous business men and farmers

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1539

ill the vicinity of Baraboo. "With a capital stock of one hundred thou-
sand dollars, the bank offers all the advantages of a strong progressive
institution, and its facilities are such that every accommodation con-
sistent with prudent and conservative management is offered to its
patrons. The First National is an active depository of the United
States Government. At the end of the first year, after the reorganiza-
tion in 1905, the total resources of the bank were a little more than
three hundred thousand dollars, while at the end of seven years, accord-
ing to a statement made to the comptroller in February, 1913, the total
resources were nearly a million dollars, lacking about forty thousand
dollars. The surplus and profits are over twenty thousand dollars, and
the aggregate of deposits are nearly seven hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. The officers are T. W. English, president; D. M. Kelly, vice
president; M. H. Mould, cashier; T. M. Mould and J. J. Pfannstiehl,
assistant cashiers.

]\Ir. M. H. Mould was born February 14, 1852, in Herkimer county.
New York, a son of Matthew and Jane (Islip) ]\Iould. Both his parents
were natives of England, and the father came to America in 1847 with
his wife and one child, locating in Herkimer county, New York. There
for ten years he was engaged in carriage making, a trade he had ac-
quired during his residence in England. From western New York he
moved to Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1857, thus becoming one of the pio-
neers in Sauk county. The late Matthew Mould is remembered as one
of the earliest daguerreotype artists in this section of Wisconsin.
Many of the old daguerreotypes finished by him are still to be seen in
the homes of the older families. He was an expert in the art, and
many samples of his work took first premium when exhibited in the
county fairs. He lived in Sauk county until his death in 1890 and
his widow is still living, being now eighty-five years of age. Matthew
Mould was at one time president of the village of Baraboo, and during
his life had the confidence and friendship of the entire community.
There were six children, five of whom are yet living, and the Baraboo
banker was the third in order of birth.

Mr. Mould's regular attendance at the common schools was termi-
nated when he was fourteen years of age, and from that time forward
he got only such education as could be derived from self application in
the interA'als of hard work. Two years of his boj^hood were spent in
a brick yard. His first independent venture was in partnership with
a ]\Ir. Owens, under the firm name of Owens and Mould in the book and
stationery trade. That enterprise was carried on during 1873-74, and
from the latter year Mr. Mould was in business under his own name, up
to 1890. In that year he became associated with Mr. Buchley, under
the stjde of Mould & Buchley. The business was continued until 1901.
In that year Mr. Mould became president of the First National Bank

1540 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

or Baraboo, and remained at the head of the institution until the reor-
ganization in 1905.

Mr. Mould has been interested in several business enterprises out-
side of his mercantile and banking career, and has aided everything
for the advancement of the city. Public matters have received his
regular cooperation, and during the first Cleveland administration he
held the office of postmaster during 1885-86. From 1890 to 1891 he
was eitj^ treasurer, and served one term as mayor of Baraboo. At the
present time his civic service consists in his membership with the water
commission, having been a member since its organization and also as
member of the police and tire commissioners, having been on that board
since the organization. Mr. Mould was the first exalted ruler of the
local lodge of Elks, having been elected at the installation of the order
in Baraboo.

On June 4, 1874, in Baraboo, he married Miss Jennie Buckley, a
daughter of Thomas and Priscilla Buckley. Of their six children, four
are now living, namely : Jennie, Arthur N., A. G., and T. B.

ViEGiL. H. Cadt. In 1908 Virgil H. Cady, a young lawyer of Bara-
boo, had the distinction of breaking a continuous record of Republican
representation from the First District of Sauk county, and was the first
Democrat elected in eighteen years to the legislature. He received
nineteen hundred and sixty votes to fourteen hundred and seventy-four
votes cast for his Republican opponent, who was standing for reelec-
tion. These figures become the more forcible when it is recalled that
Mr. Taft's majority in the same district was over one thousand. Mr.
Cady belongs to one of the pioneer families of central Wisconsin, his
father having located in Sauk county the same year in which Wis-
consin territory became a state.

Virgil H. Cady was born on Christmas Day of 1876, in the town of
Excelsior, Sauk county, a son of William C. and Emma (Huntington)
Cady. His father was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts. In
1847 the family came west, and after living about one year in Wal-
worth county moved to the town of Excelsior in Sauk county in 1848,
where the father took up a homestead from the government, and on that
farm William C. Cady lived and prospered throughout his long and
active career. In July, 1903, he moved to Milwaukee, and from 1888
to 1892 had been a resident of Baraboo. William C. Cady was twice
married, his first wife being Miss Maria Gillett, their marriage occurring
in Walworth county. She died in 1866. Mrs. Cady was the mother of
four children, two of whom are now living. In October, 1868, in Bara-
boo, William C. Cady married Emma Huntington, who became the
mother of five children, namely: Samuel H., born February 4, 1870;
Ernest, born May 23, 1873; Anna L. Sawyer, born November 4, 1874;
Virgil H. and Alice E. Heuer, born May 26, 1880.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1541

William C. Cady died April 28, 1911. On July 18, 1902, William
C. Cady celebrated his eightieth birthday, at which time all his children
were present to do him honor. At the time of his death he owned two
hundred and forty acres of choice land in Sauk county and outside of
his material accumulations his life was in many ways a benefit and a
stimulating influence to his fellow men. Possessing more than ordinary
education, his information on all subjects was very broad. In politics
he was a Democrat and a Baptist in religion and among his public
services should be mentioned his chairmanship of the board of super-
visors, his service as assessor and treasurer of his township. The grand-
father of Virgil H. Cady was a soldier in the Mexican war. His name
was -Daniel Cady.

Virgil H. Cady received a common and high school education. Dur-
ing his high school career at Baraboo he established and published an
independent high school journal known as 'The Review," during 1895
and 1896. From 1899 to 1901 his law studies were carried on at Bara-
boo and in December of the latter year he was admitted to practice
before the State Board of Examiners at Milwaukee. His entire profes-
sional career has been spent at Baraboo. In 1908 he was nominated
for member of assembly from the first district of Sauk county and
served during the term 1909-11. In the legislature he was on the judi-
ciary committee and championed several important bills that were made
into laws, and showed himself a progressive worker for the public in-
terest. In 1910 Mr. Cady was elected city attorney of Baraboo, and he
still holds that position.

On July 14, 1903, at Madison, Mr. Cady married Miss IMargaret
Pilley. They are the parents of one son, Alton, born May 10, 1904,
and named in honor of Judge Alton Parker, at that time candidate of
the Democratic party for the office of president.

William 0. Vilter. Definite prestige pertains to Mr. Vilter as one
of the vital and progressive business men and loyal citizens who have
contributed definitely and worthily to the industrial precedence of the
Wisconsin metropolis, where he is secretary and treasurer of The Vilter
Manufacturing Company, builders of ice-making and refrigerating
machinery, improved Corliss engines, machinery for brewers and bot-
tlers and varied lines of special machinery. The plant of the company
is one of the most extensive of the kind in the United States and its
products are sold in all sections of the country. The corporation has
built up a reputation that constitutes its most effective commercial
asset and he whose name introduces this paragraph has been a
resourceful and valued factor in the upbuilding of the large and
important enterprise, his status as a man of affairs and as one of the
representative citizens of Milwaukee entitling him to specific consid-
eration in this history of Wisconsin.

William 0. Vilter was born in Fedderwarden, grand duchy of

Vol. VI— 1 1

1542 HISTORY OP WISCONSIN

Oldenburg, Germany, on the 12th of February, 1862, and is a son of
Christian and Elise (Meiners) Oltmanns, concerning whom more
specific mention is made on other pages of this work, in the review
of the career of their elder son, Theodore 0. Vilter, who is president
of The Vilter Manufacturing Company. In the sketch of its presi-
dent's career also is given adequate detail concerning this representa-
tive Milwaukee industrial corporation. The schools of his native place
afforded William 0. Vilter his rudimentary education and he was nine
years of age at the time of the family immigration to America, the
new home being established in Milwaukee, where he continued his
studies in the public schools of the Seventh ward and those of the
Fourth ward, after which he entered the excellent German-English
Academy of Milwaukee, in which he completed a thorough course and
was graduated as a member of the class of 1879. Soon afterward he
initiated his identification with practical business affairs by entering
the employ of .William Frankfurth & Co., hardware dealers, the estab-
lishment of which was situated at the corner of Third and Chestnut
streets. About one year later he assumed a position in the employ of
the representative real-estate dealer, Edward Barber, with whom he
continued for two years. He made good use of the experience gained
in these connections, and on the 1st of April, 1882, he became book-
keeper and correspondent for the firm of Weisel & Vilter, of which his
honored father was junior member. When, in the year 1886, the busi-
ness was incorporated under the title of The Weisel & Vilter Manu-
facturing Company he became secretary of the company. His father
died in the year 1888 and he was then made treasurer of the corpora-
tion, the while he retained also the office of secretary, of which dual
post he has remained the able and valued incumbent during the long
intervening years. The title of the corporation was changed to The
Vilter Manufacturing Company in March, 1893, and the enterprise
dates its inception back to the year 1867, so that it merits consideration
as one of the pioneer industries of Milwaukee, the name and fame of
which city it has aided in exploiting. Mr. Vilter has been assiduous
in his application to business, has shown much executive and admin-
istrative ability and has been definitely influential in the develop-
ment of the extensive and substantial trade controlled by the cor-
poration of which he is secretary and treasurer, his brother Theodore
0. being president of the company, and Edward F. Goes being vice-
president.

In the city that has been his home since his boyhood days Mr.
Vilter has secure place in popular confidence and esteem and has identi-
fied himself closely and Avorthily with both civic and business inter-
ests. His loyalty to Milwaukee has been shown in deeds as well as
words and he is distinctively one of its representative business men,
besides being a popular figure in connection with social activities.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1543

In politics Mr. Vilter maintains an independent attitude and gives
his support to the men and measures meeting the approval of his judg-
ment, irrespective of partisan lines. He has been an alert and influen-
tial member of the Milwaukee Merchants & Manufacturers' Association
and served with special ability as a member of its committee on manu-
factures, a position of which he continued the incumbent for several
years, within which he was chairman of the committee for two terms.
He has been a director of the Citizens' Business League for the past
decade, and as such he represented the organization as a member of
the entertainment committee which had charge of the reception of the
investigating committee which visited Milwaukee during the week
of May 19, 1913, for the purpose of looking over the old state fair
grounds, the latter committee having .also given due inspection to
grounds in other places in the state, as an attempt was being made to
secure elsewhere the annual state fairs. The claims of Milwaukee
were so efficiently presented, however, by representative citizens that
the state fair was retained to the Wisconsin metropolis, as it properly
should be. Mr. Vilter has also served as president of the Milwaukee
Manufacturers & Dealers' Club and has otherwise shown himself
deeply interested in all that touches the social and material welfare and
progress of his home city. He is interested in the newly organized
Milwaukee Western Electric Railway Co. and a member of the Board
of Directors and Executive Committee. He holds membership in the
Milwaukee Miisical Society, with which he has been identified for a
quarter of a century; he was a member of the Milwaukee Turnverein
for more than thirty years ; he is a charter member and was one of the
incorporators of the Pine Lake Yacht Club ; and he is likewise a popu-
lar member of the Milwaukee Automobile Club, the Milwaukee Art
Society, and the Deutscher Club. Both he and his wife were raised in
the Lutheran faith.

On the 12th of October, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Vilter to Miss Elfriede Best, who was born and reared in Milwaukee
and who has been a popular figure in representative social affairs in
her native city. She is a daughter of Emil Best, a well known and
highly honored pioneer citizen of Milwaukee, where he has long been
interested in and actively associated with the Pabst Brewing Com-
pany. Mr. and Mrs. Vilter have a fine little son, William B., who was
born on the 16th of March, 1912. Their home is located at 572 Mar-
shall street and is known for its genial hospitality, with Mrs. Vilter
as it gracious chatelaine.

Milwaukee, as well as the state in general, owes much to its loyal
and representative citizens of German birth or lineage, and the reader
of the pages of this publication can not fail to realize the truth of
this statement, for among the strongest and best of the citizens repre-
sented is found a large and valued quota of those who claim the fine

1544 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

old Emipre of Germauy as the place of their nativity or as the home
of their ancestors. Mr. Vilter is a popular and valued representative
of the German element in the Wisconsin metropolis and, reared under
American institutions and advantages, his loyalty can not be exceeded
by that of any native son of the United States.

Jacob Van Orden. One of the oldest and one of the strongest
banks in south central AViseonsin is the Bank of Baraboo. Officially
this bank claims a continuous existence of forty years, from its estab-
lishment in 1873. As a matter of exact fact, the history of the bank
goes back much further. Simeon Mills and Terrell Thomas, as a stock
company, owned and operated a banking institution at Baraboo from
1856 to 1873. Their business was succeeded by the First National
Bank of Baraboo, and then in 1880 the Bank of Baraboo was reorgan-
ized under a state charter with Mr. George Mertens as president, and
J. Van Orden as cashier. Within a year after the establishment of the
bank under a national charter, Mr. Van Orden entered the institution
in a nominal capacity which might perhaps best be described as a gen-
eral utility boy or clerk, and his relationship with the institution has
been continuous for forty years. From a report made to the State
Commissioner of Banking in June, 1913, the resources of the Bank of
Baraboo are revealed as aggregating nearly two million of dollars, to
be exact, $1,827,396.86. At that date the bank held in deposits from
its customers over a million and a half dollars, while its capital stock
is one hundred thousand dollars, its surplus, thirty thousand dollars,
and undivided profits more than twenty thousand dollars. The officers
and directors of the Bank of Baraboo are : H. Grotophorst, president ;
C. W. Whitman, vice president; J. Van Orden, cashier; E. P. McFet-
ridge; J. B. Donovan; and L. S. Van Orden, assistant cashier. Jacob
Van Orden was born August 13, 1856, in Neosho, Dodge county, Wis-
consin. His father, Lucas S. Van Orden, a native of New York State,
came alone to Wisconsin in 1849, the year after the admission of the
territory to the Union. After a short time spent in Milwaukee, he
moved to Neosho in Dodge county, where his name belongs among the
early settlers. It was his distinction to have erected the first flour
mills in Neosho, and throughout his life he remained a much respected
and honorable business man. At one time he held the office of Register
of Deeds for two years. His death occurred in 1858. His wife was a
native of Ohio, and is still living at the age of seventy-seven.

Jacob Van Orden, the only child of his parents, was educated in
the district schools, and spent three years as a student in Ripon Col-
lege. He was eighteen years old, when in 1874, he came to Baraboo
and found employment with the First National Bank, as it was then
called. The duties devolving upon him at first comprised sweeping
out the bank in the morning, running errands, and any other work that

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1545

might be required by his superiors. He had a definite aim in entering
the bank, and that was to become a banker himself. His ability to aid
him, and close attention to details, and a ready industry, he soon gained
the confidence of all connected AA'ith the institution, and at the end of
six years was promoted to the position of cashier in the reorganized
Bank of Baraboo. His service as cashier has now been continuous for
more than thirty years, and is more important than the title would
indicate, since Mr. Van Orden has for a long period been the active
manager of the bank.

His own career as a banker has been one of success. In an article
contributed by him recently to "The Wisconsin Banker," Mr. Van
Orden quoted the words of one of Wisconsin's venerable bankers as to
what constitutes a good banker, the reply to that c[uestion being : ' ' First,
ability; second, integrity; third, capital." Those qualifications his
friends would quickly attribute to ]\Ir. Van Orden himself. As a brief
summing up of the elements of success in banking, another short para-
graph from the same article deserves quotation: "Careful study must
convince us that successful banking and a successful bank are dependent
upon the man or men in active charge of the institution. Its policy,
whether wise or unwise, whether far-sighted or short-sighted, popular
or unpopular, profitable or unprofitable, is primarily the result of the
labor of the officer in charge. He cannot and should not avoid the re-
sponsibility. Neither can he be rightfully denied the credit."

Mr. Van Orden is one of the foremost men in public spirit in Sauk
county. He is much interested in historical and archeologieal matters,
and it was due to his effective enterprise and his liberal contribution
of necessary expenses that one of the most interesting of the early Indian
remains of Wisconsin has been preserved for all times to the public.
There are a number of mounds in different sections of the state,
erected by the prehistoric inhabitants, and many of them in super-
ficial shape represent the forms of different animals, but it is very
rare when a mound is found delineating the human "figure. Two of
such mounds were in Sauk county, one of them having been obliterated
by cultivation. Another, four and a half miles northeast of Baraboo,
had escaped the plow and other implements of civilized man. though a
public road had cut through the portion of the mound containing the
figure of the legs. In order to preserve the acre and a half of land
including the mound, the Sauk County Historical Society and the State
Archeologieal Society had endeavored to enlist popular subscription
toward the purchase of the land from its owner and as a result of a
campaign this historical site has finally been preserved and fenced in
as a prominent memorial to the aboriginal inhabitants of Wisconsin.
On a large granite stone near the mound is now affixed a bronze tablet
containing in one panel the outline of the figure originally represented
by the mound, while the central panel, which Mr. Van Orden paid for,

1546 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

contains this inscription : ' ' Manmouud Park. Wisconsin Archeological
Society. Sauk County Historical Society. Landmark Committee; W.
F. W. C. 1908." In the right-hand panel are the following words:
"Mound located and platted by W. H. Canfield in 1859. Length 214
feet, width at shoulders 48 feet."

Mr. Van Ordeu is a thirty-second degree Mason, is a member of the
Baraboo Commercial Club, in politics is independent, and has been
junior warden of Trinity Episcopal Church, Baraboo, for 20 years. He
has always been a liberal supporter to the worthy enterprises under-
taken in both city and county.

On January 14, 1880, he married at Waupun, Wisconsin, Miss
Martha Atwood. Mrs. Van Orden was also educated in Ripon College.
Their two children are: Lucas S., born in December, 1881, and ^lary
Louise, born in October, 1883.

Hon. Frank Avery. Now eighty-three years of age, still active and
walking the streets of Baraboo, attending to business affairs, Hon.
Frank Avery is one of the last survivors of the old guard of pioneer
settlers in this thriving center of population and business in central
Wisconsin. He knew Baraboo when it was a village, surrounded by
dense woods, and his reminiscences form the most valuable oral history
of this community from its early days to the present. Along with a
career of close attention to business he has been honored with many
places of trust, both in the community and in the state, and no man in
Sauk county is held in higher esteem than Frank Avery.

Born November 17, 1830, his birthplace was at Tenterdern, in County
Kent, England. His parents were Thomas and Mary (Boorman)
Avery. Thomas Avery came to Wisconsin in 1864, and died in Bara-
boo on April 13, 1885. He was a shoemaker by occupation, having
followed a trade in which his father had also earned a livelihood for
the family.

Frank Avery was still in his teens when he became a resident of
America. His early boyhood was spent in the city of London, and
when only eight years of age he first saw Queen Victoria, who was then
a comparatively young woman and had been crowned only the year
before. That memory of the gracious Queen of England has always
remained one of the most vivid impressions of his lifetime. In 1853
Mr. Avery located at Syracuse, New York, and two years later, in 1855,
he came west and found a home at Janesville, Wisconsin. As his
father and grandfather had done before him, he had acquired the trade
of shoemaker, and it was that occupation which provided him his means
of support and his capital for many years. After a brief residence at
Janesville, Mr. Avery moved to Baraboo. Only a few houses stood
on the site and the greater part of the land now contained within the
city limits was then covered with heavy timber. In that pioneer lo-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1547

caiity he opened a little shop and began making boots and shoes for the
settlers. His business as a boot and shoe maker and dealer continued
for more than thirty years. During all the years of the city's growth
from its primitive conditions to the present IMr. Avery has taken a keen
interest, and his services have often been of material benefit in advanc-
ing local improvements. "When he first settled there he not only knew
personally every inhabitant and called them by name but could easily
enumerate the entire local population in a few minutes' time. Since
then the village has become a city of nearly eight thousand inhabitants,
and while the majority know him, he is no longer able to call the name
of all fellow citizens. In politics Mr. Avery has been a Republican all
his active career, and his first vote was cast for John C. Fremont in
1856. He is one of the few men in Sauk county whose Republicanism
goes back to the founding of the party. His public service has com-
prised nearly every official position in the gift of his neighbors and
friends. During the early days he was president and trustee of the
village of Baraboo. In 1882 he was elected alderman, and in 1898 be-
came mayor of the city. For ten years he was on the county board
of supervisors. In 1887 the county elected him to the lower house of
the legislature, in which he was appointed chairman of the committee
on labor and manufacture. While at the head of that committee he
was elected to the state senate in 1889 on the parole system of prisoners,
which^ was carried through and became effective. The service of Mr.
Avery in the lower house was during the governship of Jerry Rusk, and
he was in the senate while Mr. Hoard occupied the gubernatorial chair.
In 1890 Mr. Avery engaged in the insurance business and in that con-
nection has also transacted a large amount of administration of estates,
his long and honorable business record giving him a place of confidence
such as has been well deserved by his long years of integrity and hon-
orable dealing. In spite of his age Mr. Avery is still found at his office
nearly every day, is hale and hearty, and likes to talk about his early
life in Wisconsin and what happened many years ago. when Baraboo
was only a village.

George T. Thuerer. Since 1911 mayor of the city of Baraboo, Dr.
Thuerer, who is a native of Baraboo, is one of the citizens of that com-
munity whose long residence, success in professional life and high per-
sonal character entitle them to the best distinctions in public life,
where their previous records insure faithful and intelligent service in
the public interest.

George T. Thuerer was born at Baraboo, September 23, 1869. His
parents, Christian and Anna (Thomas) Thuerer, were born in the little
Republic of Switzerland. The father came alone to America in 1867,
finding his first home at Lodi, Wisconsin, where he followed the trade of
blacksmith and afterwards engaged in the making of carriages and

1548 illSTORY OF WISCONSIN

wagons. That business was the basis of his successful career and was
followed in Baraboo for twenty years. He later changed his work to
the handling of agricultural implements and continued in that line
until his retirement. At the present time Christian Thuerer is serv-
ing in the office of city weigher, and is one of the highly respected old
residents of the city. In his family were ten children, three sous and
three daughters surviving.

Dr. Thuerer, the oldest of the children, grew up in Baraboo, attended
the city schools, and after a fair education determined to fit himself
for the profession of dentistry. His first training along that line was
received in the office of Dr. A. H. Gellette, with whom he remained two
and a half years. His studies w^ere then continued in the dental de-
partment of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he was
graduated D. D. S. with the class of 1890. Throughout his career he
has been identified wdth his home city, and after graduating in dentis-
try, spent. a year and a half with his former preceptor, Dr. Gellette.
On January 1, 1892, Dr. Thuerer set up an independent practice, and
during the subsequent twenty years has acquired a large measure of
professional success. In 1895, his brother, C. L. Thuerer, became asso'-
ciated with him in the same profession, and their firm has long enjoyed
perhaps the most select and most profitable business in Sauk county.

Aside from his professional interests, the doctor has always enjoyed
participation in public aftairs, and is a man w^ho works for the public
without thought of personal gain. At the death of J\Iayor Bender, he
was appointed to fill out the unexpired term, and in 1912 was regularly
elected to the office of mayor. His administration has been characterized
by much progressive work in the city, and Baraboo has never had a more
progressive and public-spirited mayor.

Dr. Thuerer is well known in fraternal circles. His Masonic con-
nections are with the Blue Lodge, the Baraboo Chapter No. 19, R. A. ^l.,
and Baraboo Commandery No. 28, K. T., he being the present commander
of the Knight Templar organization, and being a past high priest in
the Royal Arch. His other affiliations are with the Knights of Pythias,
the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Royal Arcanum. Besides
his present office he contributes to the general advancement of the com-
munity through his membership in the Commercial Club of Baraboo.
Professionally his relations are with the Sauk County Dental Society
and the Wisconsin State Dental Association. Dr. Thuerer was mar-
ried at Baraboo to Miss Emma M. Roick. Their one daughter is ]\Iar-
garet, born June 11, 1905.

Frank E. Shults. The present postmaster of Baraboo was for
nearly a quarter of a century before taking up the duties of his present
office, engaged in the real estate and insurance business in that city,
and has long been active in both business and civic affairs. He is a

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1549

native of Sauk county, and the family was established here during the
pioneer era.

Frank E. Shults was born in Sauk county on a farm July 6, 186-4.
His father, the late Joseph P. Shults, was born in Pennsylvania, while
the mother, Mary M. Shults was a native of New Jersey. Joseph Shults
came west in 1848, the year in which Wisconsin became a state, with a
family of two children, and after living for a time at Delevan, where he
followed his trade as a wagon maker, moved to Sauk county, and in
1856 located in Newport. At Newport he opened a shop and engaged
in wagon and carriage making as an independent business, which was
continued until 1864. The purchase of a farm in that year led him
to the quieter pursuits of agriculture, and he followed farming with
a regular prosperity up to 1883. In that year his home was moved to
the city of Baraboo, where he continued to live retired until his death
in 1894. His widow survived some years, until 1911. Joseph Shults
was a Republican in politics, was affiliated with the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, and a man always held in high esteem in whatever
community he selected as his residence. There were six children in
the family, four of whom are still living.

Frank E. Shults grew up on a farm in Sauk county, had the oppor-
tunities afforded by the district schools until he was sixteen, and then
lived at home and assisted his father until twenty-two years of age.
In 1887 Mr. Shults began his business career in Baraboo, and his
operations as a real estate and insurance man laid a solid foundation
for his business prosperity. In the meantime he has been identified
with various local commercial affairs, and has served as secretary of the
Sauk county agricultural society, being a worker for advanced princi-
ples and methods in farming.

In 1911 President Taft appointed Mr. Shults to the office of post-
master in Baraboo, and his service began August 12, 1911. Much has
been done to increase the facilities of the local postoffice in behalf of the
general public, including the introduction of a postal savings depart-
ment on April 1, 1912, and Mr. Shults also supervised the installation
at the local office of the parcel post system.

]\Ir. Shults is a progressive Republican, and has represented the
First Ward of his city as supervisor three years. He was married Oc-
tober 24, 1899, to Miss Myrtie Critchell, a daughter of Seymour and
Lida.C. Critchell.

Leslie Willson. A large and distinctive contribution to progress
and municipal improvement in Chippewa Falls was made by the late
Leslie Willson, who became identified with the state in 1867, was for
a number of years in business at Eau Claire, and during the seventeen
years of his residence in Chippewa Falls built up one of the largest
concerns in the mercantile district. Throughout his long and pros-

1550 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

perous career he was one of the best friends and benefactors of his
home city. He was not sixty years of age when his course was fin-
ished. In every community death is constantly taking its toll from the
living, however valuable their lives and services. It was a conspicu-
ous member of Chippewa Palls' citizenship whose life came ta an end
on December 6, 1906, and the people of both Eau Claire and Chippewa
Falls paid many tributes of respect to their former associate and friend.
When, a few days later, his body was laid to rest in Forest Hill ceme-
tery, an unusual honor was paid to his memory in the general cessa-
tion of business and the closing of all stores.

Leslie Willson was a Penusylvanian by birth, born at Sugar Grove,
in Warren county. May 1, 1817. When he was fifteen years of age,
and after he had received most of his early education in Pennsylvania
schools, the family went to what was then the far west, locating in
1862 at Hastings, Minnesota, and soon after at Winona, Minnesota.
His father for upwards of twenty-five years and until the time of his
death, was president of the Merchants National Bank of that city.

The late Leslie Willson was twenty yeai's of age when, in 1867, he
became associated with the Eau Claire Lumber Company at Eau Claire,
Wisconsin, still making Eau Claire his home. Later that business was
closed out, and Mr. Willson subsequently represented as traveling sales-
man the firm of Bell, Conrad & Company of Chicago, selling teas,
coffees and spices over the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota for a
period of seventeen years. From 1889 until his death, Mr. Willson
made his home in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Twenty-four years ago
he organized the Chippewa Valley Mercantile Company, a wholesale
grocery house of which at the time of his demise he was both presi-
dent and active manager. In the beginning this was a very small con-
cern but under his able and practical management it developed in the
course of years into one of the leading mercantile enterprises of Chip-
pewa county. Mr. Willson erected the fine warehouses which are now
in use and the general offices, which occupy a space of one hundred and
fifty by one hundred and twenty feet and comprise a large three-story
structure of brick and stone. Practically all the stock in this company
was owned by him. To no small degree the development of Chip-
pewa Falls as a commercial center was due to the initiative and enter-
prise of the late Leslie Willson. He was numbered among the most
capable and farsighted business men of the city and aside from his
individual interests took an active part in the promotion of many
progressive public projects, so that his passing deprived Chippewa
Falls of a valued and representative citizen. As a business builder
he had few equals among his associates in northern Wisconsin.

His success in business he again and again converted into practical
assistance and co-operation in behalf of the general welfare of Chip-
pewa Falls. Public offices and places of honor were freciuently offered

HISTORY OP WISCONSIN 1551

to him but he always preferred to work in the ranks, though always
present with his counsel and generous of his means. Leslie Willson
very often subscribed liberally to stock in order to locate new indus-
tries in Chippewa Falls. Almost the only office ever held by him was
that of pi'esident of the Progressive League, which he accepted under
protest. Probably a greater tribute was neter rendered a man by
his fellow citizens than that conveyed in the resolutions and testi-
monial written by the Progressive League in memory of Mr. Will-
son, a copy of which is framed and hangs on the walls of the office of
the institution which he established.

His place in the community was recognized by all, and of the
many tributes paid to his life and services at the time of his death,
one of the best is the following paragraph quoted from the leading
Chippewa Falls daily paper: "Leslie Willson leaves a place that
cannot be filled in this community. He was a forceful character and
striking personality. His many friends were loyal to him to a marked
degree. There is genuine sorrow throughout the community over
the loss of a man in the fullest sense of the term, and a friend who
loved to see his city progress and develop. Mr. Willson could be
depended upon to aid any legitimate enterprise for the benefit of the
city. He was a most potent factor in the Progressive League council,
and doubtless his influence in building up the city was greater than
that of any other man in the League. ... He did his work mod-
estly, but effectively, and solely with the interests of his fellowmen
in mind. A very successful business man, a highly esteemed citi-
zen, and a loving husband, Mr. Willson was a high type of man-
hood that was refreshing to meet."

On the 16th of September, 1884, Leslie Willson married Miss Nellie
Wilson, a native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and a daughter of R. F.,
and Martha (Newton) Wilson, the former a pioneer lumberman in
that vicinity. He died in February, 1903, at the age of seventy-eight,
and is buried in the Forest Hill cemetery at Eau Claire. His Avife
survives him and makes her home with Mrs. Leslie Willson. Since
her husband's death Mrs. Willson is continuing the business of the
Chippewa Valley Mercantile Company. A few years ago she had
erected in Forest Hill cemetery a beautiful chapel known as the Leslie
Willson Memorial Chapel. The chapel, modeled after the architectural
lines of the celebrated Parthenon, provides, in addition to catacombs
for the immediate family, a beautifully arranged and decorated chapel
for funeral serfices and a public vault where the people may place
their dead temporarily until other arrangements are made for their
disposal. The entire structure is built in the most permanent man-
ner of stone, cement, steel and enameled brick.

This monument to her late husband was built not merely as a super-
ficial structure to prolong the memory of the dead, but as an institu-

1552 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

tiou of lasting usefulness for the public and a fitting memorial for a
man who did so much for Chippewa Falls.

Thomas William English. President of the First National Bank
of Baraboo, Thomas William English has had a long and active career
in Sauk county business* affairs and public interests. A native of Vir-
ginia, his home has been in Sauk county for sixty years, and the family
is one of the best known of those who settled in this locality during the
pioneer epoch.

Thomas William English was born in Franklin county, Virginia,
June 18, 1849. His parents were Thomas T. and Anna Martha Eliza
(Powell) English. The early ancestry goes back at least to the foun-
dation of the American republic during the eighteenth century. Grand-
father English was a soldier in the War of 1812, and many of his phys-
ical and moral traits have descended to subsequent members and possess-
ors of the name. He was a splendid specimen of physical manhood,
tall in stature, and of a natural military bearing. The late Thomas T.
English is remembered as a man of exceptional physical powers, stand-
ing six feet in height and well proportioned. Almost all the male mem-
bers of the family have been large, and as the Baraboo banker claims
a height of only six feet, he makes no pretention to measuring up to
the standards set by the majority of his kin. Thomas T. English died
in 1904, while his wife passed away in the preceding year. The year
1853 was the date of the location in Sauk county by Thomas T. English,
and that indicates the very early settlement, since the county was at
that time largely in the domain of wilderness and his work was a factor
in the early progress of civilization in this section of the state. Locat-
ing in the present bounds of the city of Baraboo he conducted a farm
there for many years and later kept a hardware store in the city, though
finally returning to his homestead and pursuing the quiet arts of the
agriculturist until his death. A part of the city now stands upon the
land which he once worked as a farmer. In politics he was a staunch
Democrat, and a leader among his partisans. It was a common remark
that whichever way Thomas T. English went, so his party in this county
would go. Among the minor offices occupied by him at different times
were those of chairman of the board of trustees and assessors, and clerk
of the town board. Of the five children in the family four are still liv-
ing, and Thomas W. is the oldest.

Until he was sixteen years old he attended with considerable regular-
ity the district school. For a short time he was a student in the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin, but as he had no intention of preparing for a
professional career and his tastes and inclinations were all for active
business, he soon left school and took up farming on his father's farm.
That was his work until twenty years of age, at which time he became
identified with the hardware trade at Baraboo. His partner was Charles

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1553

H. Lee, and the name of Lee & English was the title of a prosperous
local business for ten years. At the end of that time with accumulating
interests and prestige in local business affairs, Mr. English was elected
l^resident of the First National Bank of Baraboo. This bank, with re-
sources upwards of a million dollars is one of the strongest banks of
Sauk count}', and its president is well known among the bankers of
central Wisconsin.

Mr. English affiliates with the IMasonic Order, with the Baraboo
Lodge No. 34 A. F. & A. M., has taken the York Rite up to and includ-
ing the Knights Templar degrees, and has occupied the position of com-
mander in Commandery No. 28. He was one of the charter members
in the local lodge of Elks, and at the present time is serving as treasurer
of the body. His political career has always been that of a Democrat,
following in the same line as his father, and official record comprises
service both in local and general politics. He has been alderman in
Baraboo, assessor, clerk of the town board, and during the Peck admin-
istration was a member of the general assembh^ While in the legisla-
ture he helped to elect William H. Vilas as L'nited States Senator from
Wisconsin.

Mr. English married Miss Izei'o Ellen Evans. JLer father, H. D.
Evans, was one of the early settlers in Sauk county. Mrs. English died
in 1912, leaving three children : Tillie E. ; Harry E. ; and Izero
Virginia.

Herman Grotophorst. As a lawyer, banker, industrial promoter,
and public citizen, Herman Grotophorst has for many years taken a
prominent part in the life of Baraboo, and Sauk county, and is well
known throughout the state. Before taking up the outline of his indi-
vidual career, it v^ill be an appropriate place to insert some mention of
the recent iron-ore development which has been undertaken in Sauk
county, and largely as a result of the courageous enterprise of this
Baraboo lawj^er. The following paragraphs are therefore in the nature
of a chapter on the latest phase of Wisconsin's mining history, and will
add many facts not generally known concerning the resources of this
particular section.

Sauk county is not only known for its farm products and beautiful
scenery, but has lately also developed into an ore-producing country.
The scenery for which the county is noted is produced by the rugged
and picturesque Baraboo bluffs. The bluffs extend from Caledonia, in
Columbia county to Ironton, in Sauk county, a distance of about thirty
miles. The foundation of these bluffs is quartzite, and this quartzite
has been pushed up from below to the surface of the earth by the shrink-
age of the earth's crust. This quartzite formation rises in many places
to a height of six hundred feet above the valleys. It is known to be
i»t least one mile in thickness, dipping toward the north, at an angle

1554 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

of from thirty to ninety degrees. The southern outcropping of this
quartzite forms the southern boundary of the Baraboo Valley. There is
a quartJ^ite outcropping less prominent, forming the northern boundary
of this valley. The Baraboo Valley is about three miles wide and
twenty-five miles long, and contains large iron deposits. Between the
southern and northern quartzite outeroppings is a large basin, the
foundation of this basin being the quartzite aforesaid. Immediately
upon the quartzite is a large deposit of slate. This slate is impervious
and by reason of this condition has caused and allowed iron ore to be
formed. Above the iron ore deposit is a conglomerate of slate, dolo-
mite and jasper, together with other rock formation to a depth of about
thirty to fifty feet. Over this is a deposit of from three hundred to
four hundred feet of sandstone, and on the sandstone is a deposit
of soil from thirty to seventy feet in depth. Thus it will be seen that
the iron ore is found from four to five hundred feet below the surface
of the earth, and therefore, very difficult of discovery.

About three miles south of North Freedom is an outcropping of
iron ore, known by miners as a "blossom." When iron mining had
reached its highest state of excitement in 1882 and 1884 the company
was formed to prospect this outcropping near North Freedom, which
company was known as the Douglas Iron Mining Company. A shaft
was sunk to a considerable depth, but nothing except a lean ore was
discovered, and the enterprise was abandoned. After this failure to
locate iron ore, it was generally claimed by iron experts and geologists,
that there was no merchantable ore in Sauk county. There were sev-
eral men, however, who had faith in the iron deposits of this county,
and through their continued efforts, and at great expense to them,
valuable ore deposits were finally discovered. These men were : W. G.
LaRue, of Duluth; Herman Grotophorst and B. C. Deane of Baraboo.

For twelve years these men worked to get capital interested to
make the necessary explorations and finally succeeded in getting R. B.
Whiteside of Duluth, a capitalist, sufficiently interested to furnish the
necessary funds to explore the country in the neighborhood in which
this "blossom" was found, by means of a diamond drill. Exploration
work with a diamond drill is extremely expensive, costing approximately
three dollars a foot. After long and expensive exploratory work, a
large, merchantable iron-ore deposit was finally discovered. But even
after the showing made by these diamond drill tests, it was difficult to
get men interested who would agree to sink a shaft and develop the
property for mining purposes.

At this time the Sauk County Land & Mining Company was formed,
a close corporation, with five stockholders, viz. : W. G. LaRue, Herman
Grotophorst, B. C. Deane, R. B. Whiteside, and T.- W. Robinson.
Through the efforts of this corporation, a lease was finally entered into
with the International Harvester Company on a royalty basis. The

HISTORY OP WISCONSIN 1555

International Harvester Company sank a shaft, and proved the exist-
ence of large, merchantable iron ore beds. The Sauk County Land &
Mining Company secured most of the iron bearing lands in the neigh-
borhood. As soon as the public became aware of these iron ore deposits
a mining fever swept over the county as had never been dreamed of
by the quiet farming community. Nearly every farm in the Baraboo
Valley was optioned. Mining companies were formed by the score.
Stock was sold all over the country ; but most of these corporations were
composed of men unfamiliar with mining, and since most of them went
into the game for gain and not for the purpose of exploration, these
companies met with early failure.

The Sauk County Land & Mining Company finally got the United
States Steel Corporation interested, and leased nearly all of its lands,
consisting of several thousand acres, to the Oliver Mining Company, a
branch of the United States Steel Corporation. The Oliver Mining
Company immediately started prospecting and spent in the neighbor-
hood of one million dollars in diamond drill work, and in developing
the property which they had leased. The International Harvester
Company had a track built from North Freedom to its mines, a dis-
tance of about three miles, and considerable ore was shipped. The
United States Steel Corporation, by reason of its extensive and thorough
prospecting, has shown that in the North Freedom district alone there is
a deposit of merchantable ore estimated at over five hundred million
tons, and it is expected that in the near future this company will ship to
Gary, Indiana, large quantities of this ore. Although the ore is not of
very high quality, it is a hematite order and contains from forty-five to
sixty-two per cent of iron. Other parties have taken an interest in ex-
ploration work, and a mine has been discovered about two miles south of
tlie city of Baraboo. A shaft has been sunk on this property, known.
as the Cahoon mine, to a depth of about three hundred and fifty feet,
and the shaft is showing up good ore. Farther to the east, in Caledonia,
considerable exploration work was done also, and large ore deposits
were located at that place. It has thus been demonstrated that iron
ore may be found in almost any place in the Baraboo Valley, and no
doubt in the near future new deposits will be discovered. These de-
posits will greatly increase the wealth of Sauk county, and are apt to
increase largely the population of the county, because, by reason of
the proximity of this deposit to Gary, shipments can be made, not only
in very short time, but also at small cost.

Herman Grotophorst, whose enterprise in this direction has opened
up a new phase of mineral development in central Wisconsin, was born
August 26, 1856, in the town of Honey Creek, Sauk county, Wisconsin.
His parents were John H. and Gertrude (Dahlen) Grotophorst, both
natives of Germany. The father came to America in 1849, bringing
his family of three children, and found a location in Sauk county, where

1556 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

hf was among the early settlers. His career was that of a farmer, and
aside from his substantial prosperity in that line, he was known as an
honorable, upright citizen, respected by all who knew him. In the
early years of his American citizenship, his political support was given
to the Democratic party, and that continued until the death of Lincoln,
after which he was equally strong in his support of Republican prin-
ciples. In the family were four sons and one daughter.

The education of Herman Grotophorst until his thirteenth year was
derived from attendance at the country schools in the neighborhood of
the homestead. He gained a thorough familiarity with farm labor as a
j^outh, studied as opportunity presented, and all the while was ambitious
to extend the horizon of his activities beyond the limits of a farm. Fin-
ally, in 1882, he entered the University of AVisconsin, where he was grad-
uated with the class of 1885, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. His
studies were then continued in the law department of the State Univer-
sity, where he completed his work in 1885. After standing the law exam-
inations, he moved to Baraboo in 1886, and in this city his first experi-
ence as a lawyer b^an. In 1888 Mr. Grotophorst moved to the city of
IMinneapolis, where he remained two years and during that time w^as asso-
ciated with James A. Peterson under the firm name of Grotophorst &
Peterson. With two years' experience in metropolitan practice, he
returned to Baraboo, became associated with Mr. Remmington and Buch-
ley under the firm name of Grotophorst, Remmington and Buchley.
That firm lasted three years. The following twelve years Mr. Groto-
phorst practiced alone, and then established the present firm of Groto-
phorst, Evans & Thomas, the other members being ]\Ir. E. A. Evans,
and Mr. H. A. Thomas. Theirs is one of the leading legal firms of
Sauk county, and their practice is of a general nature.

From 1886 to 1888 Mr. Grotophorst served as superintendent of
the city schools of Baraboo, and his record as an educator is w^ell re-
membered by many of the older citizens of this locality. For nine years
he served as a member of the state board of control, and was district
attorney during the Peck administration. A few years ago he con-
sented to become Democratic candidate in his district for "Congress
against ]\Ir. Babcock, and his defeat was by a very small majority.
Throughout his career his politics have been staunchly Democratic, and
he is now regarded as a Democrat with strongly progressive tendencies.
For fifteen years he has served as secretary of the Democratic county
committee, has been a delegate to county, state and national convention,
and during the active career of that eminent Democratic statesman was
a very warm supporter of Grover Cleveland.

For the past four years Mr. Grotophorst has been president of the
Bank of Baraboo, a substantial and old financial institution, with re-
sources aggregating nearly two million dollars, concerning which more

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1557

will be found elsewhere in this work. Mr. Grotophorst has fraternal
affiliations with the Masonic Order.

In the City of Minneapolis on July 22, 1891, Herman Grotophorst
married Miss ]\Iary E. Griffith, a daughter of James and Ella Griffith,
who were residents of North Wales, England.

Sanpord H. Wood. A very efficient administration of the office
of county clerk of Sauk county has been given by Mr. Wood during
the past six years, and his character as a citizen and as a public official
is held in high esteem throughout that community. Mr. Wood is a
veteran of the railroad service, having spent many years as an engineer
with the Chicago & Northwestern Railway.

Sanford H. Wood was born December 25, 1849, in McHenry county,
Illinois. His parentis, Jacob and Sarah (Thompson) Wood, were both
born in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and Jacob Wood moved to
the United States in 1832, locating in Boone county, Illinois. After a
residence there of eight years, his home was established in McHenry
county, where he followed the trade of blacksmith until 1860, when he
engaged in farming until he retired. His death occurred in Nebraska
in 1898. His widow survived until 1910, passing away at Aurora,
Illinois. Thomas Thompson, the maternal grandfather, whose home
was in Canada lived to be one hundred and three years of age. The
great-grandfather on the paternal side was a Pennsylvania Dutchman.
Sanford H. Wood attained all his early education in the common
schools, of JMcHenry county, Illinois. His active career began at the age
of sixteen, and for more than twenty years he was a railroader. His
first work was as a brakeman on the Chicago & Northwestern line,
followed by six months as a baggageman, after which he became fireman
for three years, and in 1881 was promoted to locomotive engineer. Prom
1884 to 1897 he was one of the capable and skillful drivers of one of the
engines in the passenger service on the Northwestern Railroad. In
1897, on leaving the railroad service, Mr. Wood established his home
at Baraboo. Since that time his interest has been taken up with differ-
ent lines of business, and in the fall of 1906 he was elected county clerk
of Sauk county. His official administration began in 1907, and by
reelection his services have been retained to the present time. His
office is conducted in a way that gives the greatest satisfaction to the
people, and his personal acquaintance with the inhabitants of Sauk
county is probably as extensive as that of any other local county official.
His politics is of the Progressive-Republican brand.

Mr. Wood is affiliated with the Baraboo Lodge of Masons, with the
Knights on Pythias Lodge No. 47, and with the Modem Woodmen of
America. His long railroad service gives him an active membership in
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. In McHenry county, Illi-
nois, on November 2, 1875, he married Elsie M. Stevens, a daughter of

1558 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Jouas and Mary Stevens. One daughter has been born to their union,
Nella, born July 18, 1881.

Thomas S. Nolan. In twenty-seven years of membership with the
Jaut;sville Bar, Mr. Nolan has been both a successful and a distinguished
lawyer; one whose talents and hard-working ability have enabled him
to serve the interests of many and important clients and who both as
a citizen and business man has been prominent in the city and in south-
er Wisconsin.

Thomas S. Nolan is a native of Janesville, born in the city, October
11, 1856, a son of Simon and Margaret (Coss) Nolan. Both parents
were born in Ireland, and the father came to America in 1854, locating
in Janesville. His business was that of Railroad Contractor, and it
took liim into various parts of the country, and it is worth mentioning
that he was one of the contractors who helped to build the Northwestern
Railroad from Janesville to Chicago. There were two children, Thomas
S. and Catherine M., the latter being the wife of Walter E. Fernald, well
known as an educator, and who since 1886 has been Superintendent of
the School for Feeble Minded at Boston, Massachusetts. Both the
parents are now deceased.

Thomas S. Nolan attended the public schools and then was a stu-
dent at Ridgetown, Ontario, in the Ridgetown Academy. He began
studying law in the office of Attorney Edward Bates, of York, Nebraska.
For some time previously he had been employed as assistant clerk, and
then as clerk in the office of the Nebraska Penitentiary. Finally he
returned to Janesville, and continued his study of law with Cassoday
& Carpenter, and later with Eldredge & Fethers. He was admitted to
practice in the Wisconsin Bar in 1879.

Mr. Nolan in 1881 was one of the incorporators of the Recorder
Printing Company, and for the first two years was editor of the Re-
corder, a Republican paper. On leaving the editorial chair he became
associated in practice with John Cunningham, under the firm name of
Nolan & Cunningham. This partnership continued for three years, at
the end of which time George G. Sutherland became his partner, under
the name of Sutherland & Nolan. Their firm did a large business in
Janesville and Rock county, and their relationship was continued for
nine years. After that Mr. Nolan practiced alone until 1908, and then
became associated with H. W. Adams and Charles W. Reeder, under
the firm name of Nolan, Adams & Reeder. This partnership was dis-
solved in 1911. and Mr. Nolan now has offices by himself in the Jackman
Building.

Mr. Nolan has been closely identified with several of the larger
business enterprises of Janesville. He was one of the promoters, the
attorney and an organizer of the Rockford & Interurban Railway Com-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1559

pauy. He was also one of the organizers of the Janesville Traction
Company. He was also an organizer of the Bower City Bank.

Fraternally, Mr. Nolan is a thirty-second degree Mason, and also
affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In poli-
tics he is a Republican, and for several years was chairman of the
County Republican Committee. He was one of the original members
of the Fire and Police Commission of Janesville, and for four years was
president of the commission.

February 22, 1883, he married Miss Jessie M. ^lurdock, daughter of
Edwin D. and Adelia (Hoyt) Murdock. They are the parents of one
daughter. Vera E., who graduated from the Janesville High School
with the class of 1909, and from Milwaukee-Downer College in 1912.

Arminio Conte, As a commonwealth which on many counts is
properly adjudged foremost in progressiveness among American
States, Wisconsin has assimilated a more cosmopolitan population
than almost any other state, and the achievements and position which
are the chief ground for state pride no doubt proceed largely from
this very cosmopolitanism.

From the priority in settlement and preponderance in numerical
and commercial power the German people have of course been credited
with the most distinctive part in shaping the destiny of the state, but
many other nationalities have contributed in only less degree. As
economic factors the Italian people today exert a powerful influence
in the state, and the values they will contribute in the progress of
Wisconsin during the following decades will be increasingly shown
in all departments of activity.

As the home government's representative in the state, as a banker
and business man of Milwaukee, the foremost Italian- American citizen
of Wisconsin is Arminio Conte, a young man whose brilliant ability
and accomplishment in the finer things of life, as w^ell as his success in
business render him an especially appropriate representative of a
nation which for so long has been regarded as the world's center of
culture and religion.

Arminio Conte was born near Naples, Villanova del Battista, in
the Province of Avellino, Italy, November 18, 1878. He is the second
son of the late Ralph Conte and Lucy (Torizzo) Conte, his mother be-
ing still a resident in Italy. There w^ere four sons and one daughter in
the family. The father was for many years a soldier under the Bour-
bons, but later deserted them and for about eight years served under
the new regime inaugurated when Rome was proclaimed capital of
Italy on September 20, 1870. The father died in Italy in September,
1908. He had served his country as a soldier from the time he was
sixteen until the time he was thirty-five years of age. During the lat-
ter part of his life he was in business as an exporter of wines and he

1560 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

also mauufactured wines from the grapes of his own vineyard, as well
as from those of other vineyards in Italy.

Arminio Coute received his education at Naples, and in Rome,
wdiere he sj^ent his youth. He Avas educated in the technical school
called in Italian "Scuole Techniche and Ystituto Secnico." At the
age of seventeen he received the degree which in Italian is "Segretario
Comunate. " At the taking of the Italian census in 1891 he was
awarded the diploma of honor from the minister of commerce and
labor. He has passed successfully many civil examinations in Italy.
On October 27, 1902, he was appointed clerk of the Italian Consul at
New York City. He came to America to take up his duties, and spent
four years in New York. After this in July, 1906, he was appointed
Italian Consular Agent (Agente Consolare D 'Italia). This appoint-
ment brought him to Milwaukee, where he arrived on February 3, 1907,
and has held this position and been a resident of the city ever since.
His jurisdiction as consular agent covers Wisconsin and Iowa, and
among the Italian Americans of these two states he performs a service
Avhose value in all its varied details of practical assistance, advice, and
benevolence, can hardly be overestimated. He looks after injury
eases among his people, guides the Italian immigrants who come to
these states, secures work for them and settles their disputes and
troubles. Previous to his arrival the labor bureaus had been syste-
matically robbing the Italian immigrants on every hand, but under
his consular jurisdiction the labor bureaus have gone out of existence
so far as their preying upon the Italian people is concerned. The
Chicago & Northwestern Ry. Co., the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railway, The Falk Foundry, International Harvester Company,
and the Allis & Chalmers Company now hire all their Italian laborers
through the Consular Agency. Through Mr. Conte the Italian govern-
ment has placed more than twenty thousand volumes of Italian gram-
mars and other Italian school books in the Third Ward School, in
Mihvaukee, this wdrd being composed of ninety per cent Italian
pupils. In that school they teach both English and Italian, and the
school has become an excellent training ground for the making of
good American citizens. Mr. Conte is popular among social and
business circles in the city, is a member of the Deutsclier Club of
Milwaukee, the Knights of Columbus, the M. & M. Association and
Italian Chambers of Commerce of New York and Chicago. He is a
member of the Catholic church, belonging to Blessed Virgin of Pompeii
parish of Milwaukee, and takes an active part in that congregation.
Mr. Conte is of the opinion that his people in America need just two
things, the school and the church, and it has been his aim to have the
children of his countrymen to attend school and the entire family at-
tend church, and in this way the best inflviences are exercised for good
and useful citizens.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1561

Mr. Conte ou January 1, 1909, opened in Milwaukee the Italian
Mutual Savings Bank, located at 149 Detroit street. This bank accepts
deposits all the waj' from one cent to one thousand dollars, but not in
excess of one thousand dollars at one time. This is the only Italian
bank in the state of Wisconsin, and its business is chiefly local to
Milwaukee. Mr. Conte also represents the Bank of Naples, has the
agency for all the steamship lines to Europe and South America. As
Consular Agent he has in the two states about forty-five thousand
Italians under his supervision, and his office handles a correspondence
of more than fifty letters a day among these people. Mr. Conte in
June, 1910, established the Milwaukee Macaroni Company, whose
plant is at 173 Huron street, Mr. Conte being treasurer of this
concern and the officers being well known Italians in the city. The
company has prospered and built up a very flourishing business
since its beginning, and now ships one thousand boxes of macaroni,
each box containing fifteen pounds net, and more business will be
handled as soon as the plant can be enlarged.

Arminio Conte is a bachelor, is a thorough student, a fine convei'-
sationalist, and has devoted his splendid abilities and powers to the
service of his country, and is one of the finest representatives of
Italian-American citizenship in Wisconsin or in any state.

Hon. Francis A. Deleglise. On March 25, 1894, there passed away
at Antigo, Wisconsin, the man widely and familiarly known to the
public as the "Father of Antigo." He was Hon. Francis Augustine
Deleglise, and he was born on February 10, 1835, in Commune of Baynes,
Canton of Valais, Switzerland, the son of Maurice Athanase and Cather-
ine (Lang) Del'Eglise. In the preparation of this all too brief memo-
riam which is designed for publication in this history of Wisconsin,
nothing could be more in the nature of a eulogy than a simply straight-
forward recounting of the more salient features of his long and singu-
larly sweet life, and it is not the purpose or intent of this article to do
aught but tell of him as he was.

The father of Mr. Deleglise was one of four brothers of an old, and
highly respected Catholic family of Valais, Avho were vineyardists.
Of the four brothers, who all lived to reach ripe old ages two
were priests, one of the Order of Jesuits, was a teacher of Mathe-
matics at the University of Freiburg; the other of the Order of St.
Bernard was the Superior of the Monks at the Great St. Bernard's
Hospital. Maurice, the father of our subject, was a teacher and sur-
veyor while the other brother conducted his vineyard, following the
occupation of his ancestors. In 1848, much against the wishes of their
family, these latter two brothers, with their little families, emigrated
to America — the one brother locating in Missouri near Leavenworth,
Kansas, where he followed the occupation of his native Canton, and

1562 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

conducted a vineyard up to the time of kis death; while Maurice
came to Wisconsin, where he endeavored to provide for his family
by agriculture. The pioneer's life was a hard struggle for the Swiss
teacher and harder on the wife who survived their arrival to the
new country but five years when she succumbed in childbii'th to the
hardships and privations of pioneer life at their home in the town
of Theresa, now in Dodge county, Wisconsin, where she was buried.

The family made their home in Gibson, Manitowoc county, for a
short time and then removed to near what is now Belle Plain in
Shawano county, Wisconsin. Here the father farmed up to the time of
his death in 1878, and was brought for burial to the home of his son,
Francis A., in the then little village of Antigo, just being platted
by this son, its founder.

Francis Augustine was the eldest of the three children brought to
America — the eldest child, a daughter, Catherine, having yielded to
the persuasions of relatives and remained with them in the native
land. Francis had up to this time been a regular attendant at the
very excellent schools of his old home, but the new country taxed
the family's savings to the utmost and its welfare in a great meas-
ure depended upon the earning capacity of this big, bright, healthy boy
of barely fourteen years, who proved himself resourceful and willing to
turn to any work that offered to help the family — from clearing, farm-
ing, sailing on the Lakes in summer and working in the logging woods
in winter, to helping his father in surveying for the neighbors, Francis
did everything and anything in a cheerful, willing and capable manner,
his earnings always going into the family purse.

At the age of twenty-one Francis Deleglise married, and soon there-
after he and his young wife went to Appleton where they continued to
reside until 1877, with the exception of two years' residence, '71- '73, in
Shawano county where Mr. Deleglise started and platted the village of
Leopolis. During those years he was more or less occupied in civil
and municipal engineering, locating settlers on homestead lands, etc.,
carrying on the work he had learned under his father.

It should be stated here, however, that he enlisted on June 28, 1861,
in Appleton, Wisconsin, in Company E of the Sixth Wisconsin Volun-
teer Infantry, under Captain Marsten of Appleton. He was promoted
Boon to the rank of corporal, and in July, 1862, the regiment became
attached to the Army of the Potomac, participating thereafter in the
many struggles of the famed Iron Brigade. At Antietam, on September
17, 1862. he was severely wounded and as a result was in hospital for
several months thereafter. He was at the battle of Gettysburg and
was severely wounded and taken prisoner during the first day's fight.
He did not long remain in the hands of the enemy, however, as when
they retreated, they were forced to leave their wounded behind them,
and he was rescued bv the Federal forces. On July 16. 1864, Mr.

I

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1563

Deleglise was honorably discharged, with the record of a valiant soldier
to his credit. When he enlisted he was a stout, husky young man,
weighing one hundred and eighty pounds, and when he returned from
the war he had become so emaciated from illness, wounds and army fare
thai he tipped the scales at barely ninety pounds. He suffered for
long after the war as the result of his experience, and during his con-
valescence he studied engineering and mathematics and as soon as he
was able in point of bodily strength, he resumed his work of sur-veying,
and in time he became an expei't in that branch of civil engineering.

In 1867 he commenced the looking up and locating of lands in North
Central Wisconsin, and it was then that he, in reality, selected the site
of the future city of Antigo, and in 1877, to further exemplify the
faith, he felt in the future of the place he brought his family here and
loc'ated, and platted the village of Antigo. Mr. Deleglise named it
so from ' ' Nequi Antigo Suebeh, ' ' the Chippewa Indian name of Spring
River, signifying Balsam Evergreen River from the balsam and ever-
green that border the waters of this stream which flow^ through the
plat. He was the first town chairman and when the county was organ-
ized he was elected chairman of the first county board, and served
among the first county treasures and was most active in its early
organization and management. Mr. Deleglise dealt largely in real
estate, and he became the possessor of immense tracts of land in and
about the county. He was one of the most public spirited men the city
ever knew, always working for the development and improvement of
the community, and having an eye single to its best development along
material and moral lines. He was a man liberal in all things especially
in matters of church and of education, donating sites for these pur-
poses and also for public buildings. In politics he was a Democrat
first, but after the war he became a Republican and he continued a
staunch adherent of that political faith up to the time of his death. In
1892 he was elected to represent this district in the state legislature,
where he made a brilliant record as a legislator, manifesting his intelli-
gent interest in the best welfare of his constituents and accomplishing
worthy work in that office. He was a staunch Roman Catholic all his
life, and died in the fervent, loyal profession of that faith, on Easter
Sunday. Mareh 25. 1894.

On November 29, 1856, ]\Ir. Deleglise was married at Two Rivers,
Wisconsin, to Mary Bor, born on January 1, 1835, iii Taus, Bohemia.
She was the daughter of Simon and Dora (Kerzman) Bor, the family
coming to America from Bohemia in 1855 and settling in the town of
Gibson, in Manitowoc county, where the Deleglise family resided. The
father, who was a merchant in his native land, engaged in farming here,
and thus passed his remaining days. He died in Antigo in 1881. He
had served eight years as a soldier in his home country.

Mrs. Deleglise was a devoted mother and brave woman w^ho faced

1564 ' HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

courageously the hardships and trials, first of the wife of a soldier
during the Civil war, with three small children to care for, and then
as the mother of eight ehildi-en she journeyed with them to these
wilds to undertake the responsibilities of the pioneer woman. She
was of a deeply religious and sympathetic nature, a natural born
nurse and the pioneer women all looked to her for help and encour-
agement in sickness and trials and relied upon her to nurse them
and she was always ready to go when called upon. Mr. Deleglise
entered the lands in the vicinity of Antigo in her name and the
site of the city also was in her name she signing the Plat of the
village of Antigo as its owner. Mrs. Deleglise survived her hus-
band fourteen years, dying December 20, 1907.

To Mr. and Mrs. Deleglise were born the following children: ]\Iary
T., who married John Deresch, of Antigo, Wisconsin ; Sophia E., the
widow of Samuel E. Leslie of Antigo; Francis Joseph, who is deceased;
John E., also deceased; Anna E., the wife of Thomas Morrissey of
Antigo; Adelbert A.; Alexius L. ; Henry and Edmond, the last two
deceased.

Mrs. Mary Teresa Deresch, eldest child of her parents, and her hus-
band, were the first white settlers to enter a government homestead in
this then wilderness, and she was for a long time the only white woman
within a radius of twenty miles. They have two surviving children,
Christian and Charles. Their child born to them in 1877 was the first
white child born here but it survived but a few days.

Mrs. Sophia Leslie, now widowed, has two surviving children. Loyola
I. and Cyril Deleglise; Mrs. Leslie, it should be noted, was one of the
first school teachers in Langlade county, and her father's assistant
when platting the village.

Anna E., and her husband, Thomas Morrissey, have four children :
Margaret Virginia, John Francis, Gerald Deleglise and May. Mrs.
Morrissey as a girl of ten years accompanied her father to Langlade
county when he brought with him the first band of thirty prospective
colonists and she spent the first winter with her sister, ]Mrs. John Der-
esch, her mother and the remainder of the family coming in the fol-
lowing spring. She was the first white child to come to what later
became Langlade county, and she has an acquaintance with this part of
the county that dates back to the most primitive days, in the matter of
settlement.

Adelbert Deleglise is unmarried and resides in Antigo.

Alexius L. Deleglise, the youngest son of the five living children of his
parents, is city engineer of Antigo, and is one of the prominent young
men of the city. He is a widower and has three children, Margaret, Irene
and Germaine. The family, from first to last, has enjoyed the con-
fidence and esteem of the best people of the county, and their place
as pioneers of the city and country is not less pronounced than is their

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1565

standing in the matter of citizenship of the most helpful and uplift-
ing order.

George H. Gordon, the senior member of the law firm of George H.
Gordon, Law & Gordon, is the leading corporation lawyer of his section
of Wisconsin. He is a director of the National Bank of La Crosse and
the counselor of many of the largest local manufacturing, commercial
and public service corporations.

His partner, Mr. D. S. Law, at present district attorney of La Crosse
county, is the son of one of the city's pioneers, the late David Law, who
was a man of large and original ability and force. The junior member,
Robert D. Gordon, eldest son of the senior member of the firm, is a grad-
uate of 1911, of the Law Department of Cornell University.

George H. Gordon is a Republican and has been district attorney of
La Crosse county, an alderman of the Sixteenth AVard, and, during the
administration of President Taft, he was United States District Attor-
ney for the Western District of Wisconsin.

This is a brief schedule of results. Mr. Gordon's career is more
interesting in its development than this outline would suggest. He is
the son of two good, old fashioned Presbyterian Scotch people, William
M. and Jane Barnes Gordon, who came to this county sixty-one years
ago, and lived the lives of sincerity and independence for which they
were both born, and which exemplified the stiff-necked rules of the genu-
ine Covenanter. After a short stay in Waukesha they moved to what
was then North La Crosse, where George, their third child, was born,
in 1860, July 3rd. William M. Gordon worked at his trade of machinist
until he had accumulated a sufficient competence to maintain himself
and wife when he retired. He died in 1910. She had preceded him by
three years.

North La Crosse was a sandy little sawmill village, and by the time
George was big enough to go to school the sorting and rafting of the
great output of logs that came down Black River, was done within a
four mile stretch of river, beginning at the old main sorting boom just
above Onalaska, and ending at the upper limits of North La Crosse.

All the boys in the neighborhood used, in those days, to quit school
and take to the river in the spring, like ducks. They became very expert
log riders, and boys of sixteen and even younger, could command from
$3.00 to $5.00 a day during the season's rush, after "the spring drive."

George H. Gordon was one of these boys. He went to school in the
winter and "worked on the river" in the summer, until he was about
eighteen, when, largely through the interest taken in him by a fellow
riverman of mature years, Mdio was a great reader and a man of intelli-
gence and sense, George was inspired to look for a field of life-work with
possibilities beyond manual labor and day wages. He determined, under
the advice of his mentor, to become a lawyer, and entered the law office

1566 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

of Wing & Prentiss, where lie read law and became a law clerk, serving
faithfully for four years, when he was atlmitted to the bar.

In 1882 he began to practice with the late Judge Thomas A. Dyson,
as a partner, continuing with him until 1886, when he formed a new
partnership with William L. Crosby, under the firm style of Crosby &
Gordon. This was a happy and fortunate arrangement for both of these
young men. ^Ir. Crosby, a man of large ability, was ambitious as well as
thorough and capable. His death in 1892 cut short a career of useful-
ness and prominence for his firm, and Mr. Gordon was left alone until
January 1, 1898. Then he was, for a few years associated with John
J. Fruit, an agreeable and successful co-partnership, which was sev-
ered by Mr. Fritit's going upon the bench, in 1901, and from 1901 until
the present firm was organized in 1913, Mr. Gordon practiced alone.
He no\\' expects his second son, Stanley, who will soon graduate from
Cornell, to join and become a working force in the firm.

Mr. Gordon has made his way to a leading place among the lawyers
of Wisconsin without any adventitious assistance. He is not spectacular
and he has sought success with none of the artifices of the popular de-
elaimer. He has practiced law, day and night, year in and year out,
not with a view to making a reputation, but with the courage and deter-
mination of a man who starts, bare handed, to compel success by deserv-
ing it. Downright in his opinions and "straight from the shoulder" in
his way of expressing them, he is calculated neither by temperament nor
experiment, to be patient with humbug. He never practices it himself
and he makes short shrift of it in others.

When a question of right or wrong confronts him he does credit to
the uncompromising stock from which he came. But he is in no sense
a narrow man. He has good sense and plenty of good humor, is very
much alive to the present, and with a dead-in-earnest style and method,
he is nevertheless tolerant, gentle, discriminating and faithful in his
friendships, the sort of a man the poor devil is never afraid of, and from
whom the rich and great expect no obsequiousness. In short, he is a
broad, well seasoned speeiinen of the self-made and righteously success-
ful American citizen, self-respecting -and compelling the respect of other
men of strength, ability and character.

On January 24, 1885, Mr. Gordon was married in La Crosse, to ]\Iiss
Stella G. Goddard, daughter of L. M. Goddard, and to this union there
have come four children, Robert D., born March 25. 1888 ; Stanley,
December 25, 1890; Margery, January 20, 1894: and Donald. :\lareh
6, 1903.

George Craig Cooper. Personal achievement is something in which
everyone, normally constituted, takes justifiable pride, but there are few
individuals who do not also value an honored name and untarnished
reputation inherited from forefathers. In America patriotism has ever

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1567

been placed on a pedestal and the recital of military prowess in an an-
cestor naturally brings a glow of appreciation which is as pure a senti-
ment as can be cherished by one who is, himself, a leader of the people.
The ancestral line of George Craig Cooper exhibits not only patriotism
and military valor, but other qualities which have contributed to the
upbuilding of the sections in which the Coopers and their kindred have
made their homes.

George Craig Cooper was born in DeKalb county, Illinois, May 26,
1860, and is a son of James C. and Margaret E. (Newton) Cooper, The
father was born at Sterling, New York, and was a son of George C.
Cooper and a grandson of William Cooper. James C. Cooper had not
the robust health of his military ancestors, his life covering but thirty-
six years, three of his five children surviving, George Craig being the
third in order of birth. He had engaged in agricultural pursuits both
in DeKalb and Lee counties, and also was identified with merchandis-
ing in Illinois, Avhence in 1848 he had accompanied his father, who died
there fourteen years later. His father, William Cooper, took part in
the battle of Oswego, in the War of 1812, afterward moving to New York.
He married a daughter of James Craig, who had come from Ireland
prior to the Revolutionary war and settled at East Salem, Washington
county, New York, and subsequently served with the colonial army un-
der Colonel Alexander Webster. His name has been preserved in the
family, accounting for the Craig in the name of George Craig Cooper of
Superior. The mother of Mr. Cooper, Margaret E. (Newton) Cooper,
was born at Racine, Wisconsin, and yet survives. She is a daughter
of Rev. Daniel and Elizabeth (Walker) Newton. The former was born
in New York, and became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and as a pioneer in this denomination in Wisconsin came to Racine in
1835. His long and useful life was closed in his eighty-ninth year, at
Seville, Ohio. He married Elizabeth Walker, who was born in 1816, in
Illinois, immediately across the Mississippi river from St. Louis, Mis-
souri. Her father, David Walker, was born in North Carolina and
moved from that state to Tennessee, from whence he became a soldier
under General Jackson and fought at the battle of New Orleans, in 1815.
After, with pioneering spirit, he moved to Illinois, then practically a
wilderness, and in 1826 became the owner and builder of the first house
on the site of the present city of Ottawa, in LaSalle county, having pre-
viously lived for a time as the first settler in St. Clair county. David
Walker married Phoebe Findley, who was born in Wythe county, Vir-
ginia, a daughter of a Revolutionary soldier who died at the battle of
Cowpens, while serving under General Morgan. Rev. Jesse Walker was
a brother of David Walker, and it is said that he preached the first
Methodist sermon ever delivered in Chicago, Illinois.

George Craig Cooper received his early education in the public
schools of De Kalb county, Illinois, following which he entered the sem-

1568 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

inary at East Paw Paw, Illinois, and after graduating from that insti-
tution, took up the study of law in the office of Samuel Richardson, at
Ottawa. On JMay 22, 1882, he was admitted to the bar and at once lo-
cated in practice in Huron, South Dakota, where he followed his profes-
sion during the next nine years. Mr. Cooper came to Superior in 1891,
and here he has continued in the enjoyment of a large and reuiuneratiye
clientele, at the present time maintaining offices in the Wisconsin build-
ing. He has been connected with a number of cases which have given
him deserved standing at the Wisconsin bar. He has long been identi-
fied with Democratic politics. While living in South Dakota, he served
one term as assistant countj^ attorney, and in 1889 became a member of
the constitutional convention that framed the constitution for the state
of South Dakota. In 1900 he was a delegate to the Democratic National
Convention, supporting the Hon. William Jennings Bryan, and in the
same year became the candidate of his party for the office of attorney
general of the state. A prominent Elk, he holds membership in Supe-
I'ior Lodge No. 403, and in 1900 served as exalted ruler of his lodge.
As a diversion from his arduous labors in his profession, Mr. Cooper is
engaged in the breeding of full-blooded Guernsey cattle, and noAV has
a herd of thirty animals on his fine dairy farm, one of the finest herds
and handsomest dairy farms to be found in the Northwest. His varied
attainments, his forceful nature and his unflagging persistence have
made his every venture a success, and in his profession, in business and
in social circles he is recognized as one to whom others look for leader-
ship.

In 1892 Mr. Cooi^er was married to Miss Minnie McCuUen, who was
born in Canada, a daughter of Alexander McCullen, of Wessington,
South Dakota.

John T. jMurpiiy. It is in the field of journalism, perhaps, that men
become most widely known, not alwaj's as personalities, but as influences,
their printed thoughts reaching thousands where their spoken ones could
be heard but by comparatively a few. It is for this reason that the self-
imposed obligation of the journalist is of exceeding weight, and there
have been times when a newspaper has forced reformatory legislation,
and even been the medium of changing public policies. From academic
halls, John T. Murphy, president of the Evening Telegram Company,
of Superior, entered into newspaper life, and has continued to be prom-
inently identified with the same to the present time. Other vocations
have attracted him for short periods, but he has always returned to the
calling which he chose as his field of endeavor in young manhood, and
today he is recognized as one of the leading figures in the newspaper
world of the Northwest. Mr. Murphy was born at Deerfield, Massachu-
setts, September 7, 1860, and is a son of Daniel and Abigail (Guiney)
Murphy.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1569

Daniel Murphj', a native of Cork, Ireland, emigrated to the United
States in his youth and for many years was employed on the construc-
tion of the famous Hoosac Tunnel. Later he was identified with numer-
ous otlier large engineering enterprises in the east, but for some years
prior to his death, which occurred at North Adams, Massachusetts, when
he was seventy-four years of age, he lived a retired life. His widow
still survives and makes her home in the Bay state.

John T. ]\Iurphy received his preliminary educational training in
the public schools of North Adams, and subsequently attended
Drury Academy, from which he was graduated. He early turned his
attention to work of a journalistic nature, becoming initiated into news-
paper life in Boston, then, as now, one of the leading literary centers
of the country. In 1886 he turned his face toward the west, and for
a time was engaged in real estate operations in Kansas City, Missouri,
but subsequently returned to his native state and became manager of
the North Adams Transcript. He was later on the staff of the Boston
Globe and other large eastern metropolitan newspapers, and was identi-
fied with the New England Associated Press, but in 1888 came to Supe-
rior, Wisconsin, and for a time was engaged in real estate deals and
other large speculations. Eventually, with W. E. Haskell, then mana-
ger of the Minneapolis Journal, afterwards manager of the New York
Journal and Boston Herald, he founded the Evening Telegram, with
which he has been connected in one capacity or another to the present
time. Later this newspaper became the property of the Land and River
Improvement Company, but in 1896 Mr. Murphy organized a new cor-
poration, known as the Evening Telegram Company, and with himself
as president of the concern has continued to publish the newspaper, now
one of the leading publications of the state. Although his chief interests
lie in this connection, Mr. Murphy has of late years devoted much of his
time to copper and iron lands, and is also president of the Berkshire
Realty Company, a company dealing in Superior real estate. He has
become widely known in business circles, and has ever been prominent
in movements tending to advance the welfare of his adopted city.

In 1890 Mr. Murphy was married to Miss IMargaret Hyland, a native
of Fort Edward, New York, who died in 1892, at the age of twenty-two
years. In April, 1901, Mr. Murphy was married to Elizabeth ]\I.
Flynn, of North Adams, ^Massachusetts. In political matters a Re-
publican, Mr. ]\Iurphy has ever been prominent in the councils of his
party, although he has never desired personal preferment, and his near-
est approach to serving in public office occurred in 1900 and 1908, when
he was in each year one of the delegates from Wisconsin to the National
Republican Convention. He is a member of a number of social organi-
zations in Superior, displays a commendable willingness to give his aid
and influence to the movements which make for education, morality and
good citizenship, and has a wide circle of friends among all classes.

1570 HISTORY OP AVISCONSIJ^

Frank H. Pokhler. Perhaps no state in the Union is more thickly
populated with people of German birth or ancestry than is the great
state of Wisconsin, and the town of Prairie du Chien is especially
in that respect. It is undeniable that the citizenship of the German
is of the highest type, and it follows that the community that has
been settled by the sons of that nation will be marked by the sturdy
progressiveness that characterizes its people. Prairie du Chien, then,
may be regarded as one of these fortunate communities possessing
a generous proportion of men of that type, and not the least among
these is its mayor, Frank H. Poehler. Not only has he distinguished
himself by his service to his community from time to time, but he
has played a most important part in the business and fiscal enter-
prises incident to the growth and prosperity of the city, and it is
eminentl}^ fitting that some manner of tribute be paid to him in a
work of the character of which this publication partakes.

To follow his career with more or less of detail, is, then, the object
of this somewhat brief review. He was born in Prairie du Chien,
Wisconsin, on November 15, 1860, and is the son of H. C. and Sophia
(Green) Poehler, concerning whom some mention is made here as
follows. Both parents were natives of Germany. The father came
to America in 1856 and located at once in Prairie du Chien, being
one of the pioneer settlers of Crawford county. He set himself to
whatever occupation he could find, and until 1870 was employed as
a teamster. In the year mentioned he found himself sufficiently in-
dependent to gratify a long cherished ambition, — that of opening a
general merchandise store in the community. He prospered in his
undertaking, bringing to bear upon the conduct of the business all
his native thrift and an excellent business judgment, and when he
died in 1901 he was counted one of the financially independent men
of the city. He was a man of the highest integrity, and his standing
in his home eomniauity was one of the most pleasing order. Long a
member of the German Evangelical church of Prairie du Chien, he
reared his family in that faith, and played an important part in the
activities of the church body in his home town. By his marriage Avith
Sophia Green were born three children, two of whom sui'vive, —
Frank H., of this review, and Mrs. T. P. Cargille, now a resident of
Tennessee. The mother of these children died in 1881, twenty years
prior to the passing of her husband.

Frank H. Poehler received his education in the schools of his
native community, and when he had finished with his high school
course he entered the business with his father, and thereafter con-
tinued to be so identified. He learned the principles of business
from his father, who was a most efficient instructor, and Avhen the
elder gentleman died he left the concern in the hands of his son,
secure in the knowledge that it would be carried on successfully and

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1571

profitably as long as his son continued to be identified therewith. The
young merchant carried on the business until 1908, when he sold
out, and has since devoted his time to a varied collection of interests.
He has always been found interested and associated with the leading
enterprises launched in the city, and as a promoter of new activities
as well, he has figui-ed prominently. The best interests of Prairie du
Chien have always been close to his heart, and he has spared no effort
to establish and make solid enterprises that seemed to promise some-
thing to the ultimate growth and development of the city. He was
one of the organizers and promoters of the Prairie du Chien Sani-
tarium, an institution of the greatest benefit to the community, and
he is at the present time a director of the Crawford County Bank.

Civic and political matters have always claimed a generous share
in his interests, and Mr. Poehler has given the most praiseworthy
service to his community during three years' service as an alderman,
and is now in the midst of his service as mayor of the city, to which
office he was elected by a pleasing majority on April 2, 1912. His
administration thus far has been marked by a service of the same
order that is characteristic of a man of his ideals and integrity, and
he has amply justified the wisdom of the people in calling him to
such an office. Mr. Poehler is a stanch Republican, and has given
worthy service to his party throughout his more mature years.

His fraternal relations are represented chiefly by his membership
in the Masonic order, in which he is affiliated with the A. F. & A. M.,
Blue Lodge and Chapter.

Mr. Poehler was married on April 25, 1885, in Prairie du Chien,
to Miss Louisa Stuckey, the daughter of an old pioneer family of
Crawford county, and to them have been born three children, — Mabel,
Nellie and Helen.

Ramus Orsted Gottfredson. In the death of Mr. Gottfredson in
1901, the city of Kenosha lost a successful merckant, a valuable and use-
ful citizen, and a man of whose success in life was not only large, but
was earned by qualities of character which are always admirable.

Ramus Orsted Gottfredson was born January 17. 1828, so that he
was seventy-three years of age at the time of his death. His native land
was Denmark, and his parents were Gottfred and Maria Gottfredson.
Common schools in Denmark supplied him with the foundation of his
literary education, and at the age of fourteen he went to Haderslaben
in Schleswig-Holstein, where he spent six years as an apprentice at the
watchmaker's trade. The watchmaking trade gave him his introduc-
tion into independent business and it was as a jeweler that he afterwards
built up a fortune in Wisconsin. After finishing his apprenticeship he
spent six months working at his trade in Copenhagen and then was
employed by a maufacturer of ship chronometers. Finally the Revolu-

1572 IITSTORY OF AYISCONSIN

tiou ill the German states and provinces broke out during the forties,
and he found employment in the office of a wholesale jewelry firm at
Hamburg until 1850.

It was in that year that Mr. Gottfredson left the old country and
took passage on board the barque North America, which after twenty-
eight days of sailing dropped anchor in New York Harbor. A few
months after his arival in America he was working in Albany, New
York, at nine dollars per week and his board. On April 12, 1850, how-
ever, he arrived in Kenosha, AVisconsin, and here got a contract with W.
0. Bush, who Avas to furnish him his board and wages of ten dollars
per week as manager of a stock of jewelry, and in addition was to get
one-half of the profits. The first week of 1851, he and his brother
bought out the stock from his employer, for four hundred dollars. In a,
short time he had acquired ownership of the entire business, and had
just paid off all his obligations to his brothers and others, when a robber
broke into the store one night and stole four hundred dollars worth of*
goods and money. That was a severe blow at the time, and it seemed
likely to embarrass him for some time. However, Mr. E. W. Pratt,
the man who had supplied his stock of goods on hearing of his misfor-
tune sent him at once nine hundred dollars worth of new stock, and thus
practically launched him in business again. Mr. Gottfredson after this
misfortune had a very successful year, and his total business for twelve
months was about six thousand dollars. Prosperity now seemed to smile
upon him, and for over thirty years he continued in the jewelry business,
and from a beginning in a small rented store which had only one win-
dow in front in 1888, he constructed a fine two-story brick block and one
of the best establishments in the retail business district of Kenosha.

In Kenosha on February 5, 1856, Mr. Gottfredson married Hen-
rietta V. Fry, who was born in Canada. The two children of their
marriage are Esther R. and Alice B. Their mother died in 1861, and
in the following year Mr. Gottfredson married Josephine T. Tubuse, a
native of Ohio. In 1859* they erected a suitable home on Park avenue,
where Mrs. Gottfredson still resides. In the building of that home Mr.
Gottfredson made a deal whereby he exchanged watches and other jew-
elry for the material and work of construction.

In religious affairs he belonged to the Danish Lutheran church and
helped build a home for that society and also aided in the erection of
the German Lutheran house of worship. In politics he was a Republi-
can, and was affiliated with Kenosha Lodge No. 47 of the ]\Iasonic Order,
in which he was raised, and in 1852 joined the Odd Fellows. For the
long period of fifty-five years, Mr. Gottfredson was engaged in the jew-
elry- business and by his thorough knowledge of every detail, his excel-
lent choice of investments, and careful handling of stock, built up a
generous fortune, which his widow has employed for much kindly
charity and benevolence in her home city.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1573

Hon. p. pi. Smith. While serving his second term as a member of
the Wisconsin State Senate, and after a long career in business affairs
in Sheboygan county, Patrick Henry Smith died on January 22, 1884.
The life of Senator Smith had many points of interest. He was a pio-
neer of Wisconsin, having located in the territory a few months before
its admission to the Union. A young man at the time, commanding the
resources only of a strong character and industry and good judgment,
he was for more than thirty years identified with mercantile affairs in
his home city of Plymouth, and at his death left one of the largest
estates ever pi'obated in the county. While prosecuting his business
affairs with singular ability, he was never neglectful of his duties to
home and state. His death occurred at a comparatively early age, and
in spite of a semi-invalidism which clouded his last years, he accom-
plished much that made his career memorable in the annals of his county
and state.

Of New England birth and lineage, Patrick Henry Smith was born
at Koj^alton, Vermont, September 29, 1827. He was the youngest of
eight children, four sons and four daughters, of Colonel Stafford Smith,
a man of marked prominence in his home state. Senator Smith grew
up in Vermont, had the sturdy discipline of a New England environ-
ment and such advantages as M^ere supplied by the common school. His
early inclination pointed toward business, and he had some apprentice-
ship in that line before coming west.

Arriving in Wisconsin in 1847, he spent one year in Sheboygan, and
moved to the little village of Plymouth on March 11, 1848. His brother,
H. N. Smith, later of Milwaukee, was a merchant in Plymouth, and the
younger Smith took employment in that store, and after one year their
relations were reorganized, under the firm name of P. H. Smith &
Company. The store in Avhich Senator Smith had his first business
experience at Plymouth was the second frame building erected in the
town. In 1860, Hon. William Elwell, long a citizen of Sheboygan, .suc-
ceeded to the interests of H. N. Smith, and the firm became Smith &
Elwell. From June, 1867, until March, 1868, Mr. Smith was alone
in business, and at the latter date H. H. Huson became associated with
him under the firm name of Smith & Huson. In April, 1873, the busi-
ness was merged into a new organization, when Mr. G. W. Zerler be-
came a partner, the new firm being Smith, Huson & Zerler. Mr. Smith
was a natural merchant, a shrewd business man, and when ill health
compelled him to retire in April, 1880, he had acquired a generous com-
petency for his family.

The death of Senator Smith brought forth many comments, from
individuals and from the press of the state upon his character and
career, and from one of these the following tribute seems appropriate :
"Senator Smith was a pioneer of the county, and one of its leading
spirits, and probably did as much for its advancement as any other citi-

1574 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

zen. He has always been a geutleman of wide influence, by reason of
his mental characteristics, which he always employed for the benefit?
of his fellow citizens, in preference to his own advancement. During
his residence in the county he occupied a number of prominent public
positions, and could have held many more, but not being desirous of
political distinctions refused to accept them." This comment throws
light on his attitude towards public affairs, and though not a politician,
he had a worthy record of public service. It was his distinction to have
served as the first town clerk of Plymouth. He held the office of post-
master in that city from 1853 to 1857. In 1860 lie Avas appointed Dep-
uty United States Marshal. In the village he held such other offices as
alderman and president of the city council. His entrance into the larger
sphere of state politics came about the time of his retirement from mer-
chandising. He was a Democrat in which political faith he had been
reared, he was elected in 1880 to the state senate, and Avas re-elected in
1882, his death occurring before the expiration of his second term.

The following brief quotation will indicate some of the more per-
sonal qualities of his nature : ' ' Shrewd as a business man, and capable in
all the affairs of life, it was as a neighbor and friend and in the house-
hold among the family that he appeared to the greatest and best advan-
tage. A man of great urbanity and a most genial nature overflowing
with irrepressible mirth and wit, he died true to the life he had lived,
and smiles and pleasantries characterized the weary weeks and months
of his lingering illness, even when undergoing the torments and tor-
ture of pain, and so great was his sense of the ridiculous and so over-
mastering and exuberant was his joyous nature, that it may almost be
said that he died with an innocent jest upon his lips."

In October, 1861, Patrick H. Smith married Miss Clemana Elwell,
eldest daughter of Judge William Elwell of Pennsylvania. To their
happy marriage were born five children, three of whom died in infancy.
Those surviving both their father and mother are IMollie and Lucia, of
Plymouth.

Mrs. Clemana Elwell Smith was a woman of many notable graces and
accomplishments, all expressing the fine christian nobility and perfec-
tion of character, for which she will be long remembered in a large cir-
cle of friends. She was born at Towanda, Pennsylvania, October 28,
1838. She received her education at Bacchus Hall, at Binghamton,
New York, one of the earliest schools for girls in the country. Her
especial talent for music was developed both at home and in school, and
at the age of fifteen she became organist in her parish church, and so
continued until her marriage to I\Ir. Smith in 1861. At Plymouth, Wis-
consin, she became organist in St. Paul's Episcopal church, and her work
in behalf of this church not only in her home parish but in the state
was marked not only by individual consecration, but by the extension of
many generous contributions to its wider beneficence. At her husband's

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1575

death she gave as a memorial to the church a beautiful pipe organ, aud
continued as organist for a number of years, until her place was taken
by her daughter, Miss Mollie. The families of P. H. Smith and H. N.
Smith were the nucleus of the first Episcopal organization in Plymouth,
and the first Sunday School of that denomination was organized in the
home of H. N. Smith. For half a century, ]\Irs. P. H. Smith kept her
home open to the many activities of the church, and it was also a center
for the finest social life of the community. The Smith families were
likewise the organizers in 1869 of the Hub Club, which laid the founda-
tion for the splendid public library now established in Plymouth. Mrs.
Smith both before and after her husband's death kept up a wide range
of cultural interests, traveled much abroad and her devotion to the finer
and higher things of life was unceasing to the end. Her death occurred
on November 12, 1912. She was one of the charter members of the
Plymouth Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and
her family stock is one of the oldest in America.

Hon. William Elwell. Though his career as a lawyer and a dis-
tinguished jurist was entirely identified with the state of Pennsylvania,
a brief sketch is appropriate here because his daughter. I\Irs. P. H.
Smith, was for half a century a resident of Plymouth, and a son was at
one time one of Plymouth "s business men. and he left other descendants
in this state.

William Elwell was born October 9, 1808, and when more than
eighty-seven years of age passed away on October 15, 1895. For a quar-
ter of a century, he was presiding judge of the Twenty-sixth Judicial
District of Pennsylvania, with residence at Bloomsburg in Columbia
county. He was for more than half a century a conspicuous- man in
the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and in the line of his profession was
a peer of any of his contemporaries. He was in active practice for
almost thicty years before he came to the bench, and in that time had
served as a member of the legislature. Judge Elwell was admitted to the
bar in Pennsylvania in 1833. At his death more than sixty years later,
many tributes were paid by his old associates to the distinguished char-
acter and services of Judge Elwell, and from a reading of these expres-
sions, it is evident that no ordinary man could have called forth such
sincere eulogy and admiration. As was expressed by the president of
the bar association, ' ' The study of his character and the example of his
life as a judge, as a lawyer, as a citizen, as a man and as a Christian
will be and should be the incentive to the constantly higher and higher
endeavor to reach the exalted plane on which he stood grandly, and
steadily." A large proportion of the members of the Columbia county
bar at the time of his death had been admitted before Judge Elwell.
Concerning his work as a judge, one tribute was as follows : ' ' The rule of
conduct of Judge Elwell, as a minister of justice upon the judgment

1576 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

seat for more than a quarter of a century was righteousness, the subject
matter of the profession of the law — nay, more, its principal lesson, and
which every member of the profession should prize above honor, suc-
cess or wealth, as the rule to guide him in the discharge of his duty. It
is, therefore, eminently proper that the profession as a body should by
appropriate consideration and resolution, perpetuate the character of
Judge Elwell as a minister of justice ; not that it will add to his fame,
but because it will be so long as time shall last, a teacher to the profes-
sion of what constitutes righteousness, and more than that, a teacher that
yonder judgment-seat continue as Judge Elwell left it, an emblem of
that higher judgment-seat of which perfect righteousness is the habita-
tion. ' '

Judge "William Elwell married Miss Clemana Shaw. Mrs. P. H.
Smith of Plymouth was his eldest daughter. Other children were : Mrs.
N. U. Funk of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania; E. AY. Elwell, of Towanda;
George E. Elwell; Charles P. Elwell of Bloomsburg. It may be appro-
priately added in conclusion that during Judge Elwell's twenty-six
years of distinguished service he never had a decision reversed.

Thomas Henry Smith. It would be a difficult matter to follow the
career of Thomas Henry Smith through all his varied and extensive
activities, in Wisconsin during the fifty years of his residence. He came
to the state as a machinist, by one of those peculiar circumstances which
throw men into close association, he became a partner of the late John
Leathern, and the firm title of Leathern & Smith has ever since been
one of the authoritative and substantial names in Wisconsin commercial
affairs. For many years their joint activities were chiefly in lumbering
and logging. Mr. Smith at the present time is secretary and treasurer
of the Leathern & Smith Towing & Wrecking Company, and president of
the Leathem & Smith Lumber Company. His residence has been at
Sturgeon Bay since 1875.

Thomas Henry Smith is of New England birth and ancestry, born
at Stowe, ]\Iassachusetts, June 21, 1842. His parents were John and Mary
B. (Whitney) Smith, the former a native of Utica, New York, and of
English parentage. John Smith was a wool-dyer by trade, and his father
before him had followed the same vocation. John Smith had stock in the
establishment where he was emploj^ed, and during his business career
acquired various interests, but died a comparatively young man, after
moving his family to Norwich, Connecticut. The mother was born at
Stowe, Massachusetts, and the Whitney family goes back in Massachu-
setts history to the year 1635. and many prominent men bore that name
in the early colonial era, and in the later epoch of statehood. John
and Mary B. (Whitney) Smith were the parents of the following chil-
dren : Thomas Henry ; Marietta, wife of George B. Merrick of Madison,
Wisconsin; and Caroline, who died when quite young.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1577

When Thomas H. Smith was about a year old, the family moved to
Norwich, Connecticut. That was the city in which his youth was spent,
and his early training in schools and in practical vocational preparation
received. The death of his mother when he was fourteen years of age
left him an orphan. Thus he was thrown largely on his own resources
and with considerable prior inclination entered work at the machinists'
trade, which he followed closely until the In-eaking out of the war. That
found him still in his minority, but at the first call of Lincoln for sev-
enty-five thousand volunteers in 1861^ he responded and enlisted in
Company C of the Second Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, under Cap-
tain Henry Peele. That was a three-mouths' regiment, and as among
the first volunteers each recruit received a medal. Mr. Smith fought
in the first battle of Bull Run. With the expiration of his term of
enlistment, he returned to Connecticut, and applied himself energet-
ically to his trade. About that time he was awarded a contract for
the making of ninetj^ thousand pairs of ice skates, that being practically
his first independent business venture.

Mr. Smith was introduced to Wisconsin through his uncle, John
Whitney, who was at one time proprietor of a machine shop at Green
Bay in this state. He induced his nephew to come out and take employ-
ment with him in 1864. It was during his work in this shop that John
Leathem, who was then conducting a mill at New Franklin, ten miles
from Green Bay, made a visit to the shop to get some shingle saws set
on collars. Mr. Leathem was a practical lumberman, knew every detail
of the outside phases of the industry, was very capable in the handling
and leading of men, but was handicapped in his progress by lack of
means with which to finance his undertaking. While at the AVhitney
shops, he explained to its proprietor his desire to find a partner with
some money. Whitney then pointed out his nephew as being just the
man for his purpose. Leathem explained his proposition to Mr. Smith,
who at once became interested, and promised to investigate the situa-
tion. A little later Mr. Smith decided to look over the Leathem plant,
and when about half way met Mr. Leathem and his men returning to
the city of Green Bay. The workmen had become tired of promises
instead of actual money, and refused to remain longer in the work. ]\Ir.
Smith has always been a man of quick action, and it was characteristic
of him that he went back to the mill and wrote out for each of the
men a check for his pay, and thus having satisfied the discontented
ones the force returned and took up their work with new vigor. That
was the beginning of the partnership and life long friendship of Leathem
& Smith. Mr. Leathem, as an experienced lumberman, looked after all
the outside work, while Mr. Smith took charge of the business end. They
conducted the mill at New Franklin until 1867, and it is worth while
to recall that shingles in those days sold for six dollars a thousand. In
1867, their enterprise was moved to Red river, on the shore of Green

1578 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Bay. Tlie late Charles Scofield, al)Out that time took a leading financial
interest in the concern, and the business was conducted for some years
under the title of Scofield & Company. In 1875, Leathem & Smith
moved to Sturgeon Bay, building a mill there while Mr. Scofield re-
mained to conduct the milling preparations at Red River. In 1881 Mr.
Scofield withdrew from the firm, and Leathem & Smith then continued
together in various lines for several years. The death of John Leathem,
whose name ranks high among early Wisconsin lumbermen, occurred
in 1905, in San Diego, California, where he had spent the last ten. years
of his life in poor health.

Before the days of manufacture of artificial ice on an extensive
scale, the Hammond Packing Company of Hammond, Indiana, had built
several large ice houses at Sturgeon Bay. The firm of Leathem & Smith
took a large contract from this company to transport its ice in a fleet of
boats, and after the icehouses were abandoned, the boats were employed
for carrying stone. In the early days the only way to get across the bay
from Sawyer to Sturgeon Bay was by ferry. Mr. Smith often was
obliged to remain in Sawyer all night, separated from his family, on
account of the gorge of ice. To obviate this too frequent condition, he
conceived the idea of building a bridge, and in 1886 obtained from the
county board a twenty-five year charter, and with John Leathem and
R. B. Kellogg under the name of Sturgeon Bay Bridge Company, con-
structed a bridge at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. That was when
first built only a wagon bridge, and later when the railroad began oper-
ating across the bay the railway company put in a draw costing ten
thousancj dollars, and from that time forward the railroad company
paid half the expense of maintenance, and one hundred and fifty dollars
a year to the Sturgeon Bay Bridge Company. The company's charter
expired November 2, 1911, and at that date the city of Sturgeon Bay
took over the bridge. This was and still is operated as a toll bridge.

The firm of Leathem & Smith has done no sawing at Sturgeon Bay
since 1892. They formerly owned twenty-four thousand acres of fine
timberland in Louisiana, but that has since been sold to the Day Broth-
ers Lumber Company. Leathem & Smith at one time owned large and
valuable tracts of Michigan timber. After the abandonment of the
Sturgeon Bay sawmills, Mr. Smith and John Hunsader, who had long
been with him as a valuable employe, opened a machine shop in Stur-
geon Bay. .Mr. Hunsader having practical charge of its operation. This
business is still a flourishing concern and supplies facilities for general
repairing.

The Leathem & Smith Towing & Wrecking Company, was incorpo-
rated in 1892. with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. The
president is Leathem D. Smith, a son of Thomas H. Smith, while the
latter is secretary and treasurer. The Leathem & Smith Company's
boats, tugs, and other apparatus and appliances for the business, are to

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1579

be found all over the great lakes. The Leathern & Smith Lumber Com-
pany was incorporated in 1894 with a capital of one hundred and sev-
enty thousand dollars, and of this Leathem D. Smith is president and
Thomas H. secretary and treasurer. Another important line along
which Mr. Smith's business energies have been directed with much ad-
vantage has been the development of Sturgeon Bay stone quarries. Mr.
Smith was the first to recognize, at least in a practical sense, the possi-
bilities of these quarries, and with his son Leathem he has since de-
voted much of his time to the business of quarrying stone. Their
quarries are supplied with all the modern machinery and methods for
blasting and getting out stone for all commercial purposes. This is the
only firm in Sturgeon Bay engaged in the crushed stone business, and
during the past year it has become necessary to more than double the
capacity of the plant. Leathem D. Smith has active charge of this
industry.

In December. 1871, Thomas H. Smith married Anna Dailey. The
children of their marriage are as follows: Maude, now I\Irs. Fred
"Walters, of Shelby, Ohio, and their children are Thomas Smith, Mary
Collier and Winifred E. ; Sidney T. is interested with his father in the
ownership of eight sections of land in Fresno county. California, where
they raise vast quantities of alfalfa ; Winfred is the wife of J. G. Os-
borne of Milwaukee, and they have five children ; ^Marietta is Mrs. Carl
Dreitzer, of Milwaukee ; Leathem is the present head of the Leathem &
Smith business interests, and has proved himself a worthy successor
of his father, from Avhom he has gradually taken the weighty responsi-
liilities of business affairs ; the youngest child is Miss Theresa. Both
Mr. Smith's sons are graduates of the University of Wisconsin, and
the daughters are likewise educated. Mrs. Smith and her daughters
are all prominent socially. Their Sturgeon Bay home is a fine resi-
dence on Cedar Street. Mr. Smith has had a long and busy career,
has had too many practical responsibilities to consent to run for office,
and has performed his share of community life by originating and car-
rying to a successful conclusion, various large undertakings that con-
stitute important assets in the state's commercial prosperity.

Urias J. Fry. The late Urias J. Fry, for years superintendent of the
telegraph system of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad,
closed a long and a successful career in the railroad business after
a short illness from pneumonia, his death occurring on February 22,
1913, at his home on Newhall street, Milwaukee. He had been a
resident of this city for thirty years, and was well and favorably
knoAvn in railroad circles, as well as in social and fraternal centers.
His connection Avith the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul in Milwaukee
began in 1884, when he came here as an operator for the road. Soon
thereafter he became chief operator, a position he continued to occupy

1580 HISTOKV OF WISCONSIN

until 1888, when lie was promoted to the office of telegraph superin-
tendent, which position he was the incumbent of when death claimed
him.

■ Urias J. Pry was born in Uriehsville, Ohio, on April 28, 18-i8,
and was the son of Daniel and Mary Ann (Bingham) Fry. Both
parents were of Pennsylvania Dutch stock and natives of Ohio. The
mother died a few years after Urias was born, and in 1849 the father
moved to Indiana, where he remained until 1895. In that year he
came to Milwaukee, here spending the latter part of his life, and he
died here in 1905. His father was a gunsmith by trade, and an
especially enterprising man, and at diiferent periods of his career
conducted a cooi^erage factory, a match factory, a blacksmith shoj^,
and also owned a farm at one time. In 1854 he married, as his second
wife, Mrs. Delia Rumsey, who died in 1893, leaving two children,
Alta L. and Ellsworth J. Fry.

Urias J. Fry, the subject of this biographical review, was thirteen
months of age at the time of his mother's death. He was placed in
the care of his grandmother at Valparaiso, Indiana, whei'e he lived
until he was of school age, when he returned to his father's home at
Lowell, Indiana. There he attended the common schools, and in
March, 1874, he began his career as a telegraph operator, his first
assignment to duty being at Washington Heights, Illinois. With skill
as an operator he combined an efficiency of service that put him in
the way of steady promotion. He was with the Pan Handle Kail-
road at first and was promoted from Washington Heights to Dalton,
Illinois, and then to the C. B. & Q. railroad as operator at Aurora,
Illinois. In 1884 he entered the service of the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul Railroad at Milwaukee as an operator, being advanced
from that position in September of the same year to that of chief
operator. Four years later, on October 1, 1888, he was made super-
intendent of telegraph over the entire system of the company, a
position which he filled in the most capable and efficient manner, and
in which he was serving at the time of his death.

One of the best known telegraphers in the country, he made many
improvements in the application of the relay idea in railroad work,
and was known to be an expert in telegraphy and telephony. Hi^
served as president of the Superintendents of Telegraphers Associa-
tion, and also as president of the Old Time Telegraiihers Society, and
was always prominent in both societies. He was active in fraternal
societies, and was a member of Colfax lodge, A. F. & A. M., at Lowell,
Indiana, and Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 24, Knights Templar, of ]\Iil-
waukee ; the Knights of Pythias, and Wisconsin Council, No. 197, of
the National Union of Mutual Insurance. He Avas a member of the
Presbyterian church, as was also his widow, who died June 3, 1918.
His two sons survive him.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1581

Mr. Fry was married on November 9, 1869, to Miss Emile L. Chap-
man, who was born in Madison county, New York, and came to Indi-
ana with her parents when a child, they being among the earliest
settlers in the northwest part of that state. The two sons are Rupert
F., who is given distinct mention in this work as president of The
Old Line Insurance Company of America of Milwaukee, and Justus
W. Fry. The latter was born in Chicago, Illinois, and educated in
Milwaukee. He has followed the vocation of his father in railroad
telegraphy and is chief lineman of the ^lilwaukee road at Seattle,
Washington, on the Puget Sound Branch.

Rupert F. Fry, founder and president of The Old Line Life Insur-
ance Company of America, is one of the best known insurance men
of the middle west and has been actively identified with the business,
from solicitor to company executive throughout most of his entire
career. Mr. Fry was born in Lake county, Indiana, June 10, 1871,
but has been a resident of Milwaukee for the past twenty-five years.
He is a son of Urias J. and Emile L. (Chapman) Fry of this city,
who have separate mention on other pages of this Avork.

Rupert F. Fry completed his education in the Milwaukee schools,
after which he followed in the footsteps of his father by acquiring
the art of telegraphy and practicing it as an operator for several
years at various points through AVisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and
other states. His inclinations soon led him into another sphere, and
in 1895 he took up life insurance, in that field finding the opportuni-
ties for conspicuous achievement. During his career in insurance he
has represented some of the world's best companies, and it was his
study of insurance as a business science, together with his thorough
practical experience, that enabled him in 1910 to complete the organ-
ization and launch under such favorable auspices The Old Line Life
Insurance Company of America, and the success of that company is
due to Mr. Fry's executive management.

Mr. Fry is interested in several manufacturing and business enter-
prises of Milwaukee, and is prominent in the social and civic life of
the city. His chief recreation is fishing. He is also a member of the
Milwaukee Automobile Club, the Illinois Athletic Club of Chicago,
and the Milwaukee Athletic Club. He is affiliated with the Knights
of Pythias in Chicago. Mr. Fry is a veteran of the Spanish-American
war, having served with the troops in Porto Rico and in the signal
corps of the American army. -In Masonry he has taken the degrees
including the thirty-second and is affiliated with Ashlar Lodge No.
308, A. F. & A. M., at Chicago; Wisconsin Chapter No. 7, R. A. M.,
Milwaukee ; Ivanhoe Commandery No. 24, K. T., Milwaukee ; Wis-
consin Council No. 4, R. & S. M., Milwaukee ; Oriental Consistor.y of
Chicago and the Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Chicago.

1582 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Mr. Fry was married in Milwaukee, to Miss Clara Marie Thomp-
son, who was born at Winchester, Adams county, Ohio, a daughter
of Nathan Thompson. Her mother died in Winchester, where her
father, who was for some years a resident of Milwaukee, now lives.
The latter was a lieutenant in an Ohio infantry regiment during the
Civil war. ]Mrs. Fry received her education in Milwaukee. She is a
member of the Baptist church, and the residence is at 262 Thirty-
fourth street.

The Old Line Life Insurance Company of America, Milwaukee,
Wis. In considering the subject of life insurance, few people, if indeed
any, pause to reflect upon the origin and source of the present complex
system of insurance that has become a vital part of the present day
social and business system. It is therefore of interest in this connection
to refer to the article which Rupert F. Fry, president of the company
whose name heads this review, prepared for a leading issurance pub-
lication, and from which a portion is here quoted verbatim: "It dates
back many years to the time when John Doe suggested to his neighbor,
Frank Webster, that it would be a good plan for them to make an ar-
rangement to protect their respective families against the total loss of
their money making ability. An arrangement was therefore made, so
the story goes, whereby in the event of Doe 's premature death, Webster
agreed to provide for Doe's family, and vice versa. A little later a
neighbor heard of this arrangement and asked to be permitted to join.
Finally' one of the contracting parties died, and his family was not de-
pendent. Then others sought admission, and finally nearly all the fam-
ilies in the commujiity were provided for under this crude plan. About
this time it was found necessary to employ a secretary, manager, etc., to
look after the affairs of this so-called association and Avhat later de-
veloped into a gigantic business."

"This," says Mr. Fry, "is one of the old and simple explanations
of the origin of life insurance. To go back a little farther, the neigh-
bor who originally devised and suggested the plan, probably got his
idea from the old bible story, — the dream which Joseph interpreted
for the Pharaoh as a prophecy of seven years of plenty and seven years
of famine." In this article Mr. Fry very ably sets' forth many other
facts relating to the subject of life insurance in the present day and
age, from which further mention may be made, but the full context
may not be incorporated here owing to lack of space.

The growing appreciation of old lin^ life insurance on the part of
the public is an established fact, and one that renders comparatively
easy the business of the solicitor of new insurance. It is true that
a remarkable change has come about in this phase of the work in the
last half century. The lack of knowledge on the part of the public
concerning this great subject, combined with their skepticism, made it

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1583

a trying thing to convince a man of the advisability of insuring his
life. Todaj' it would be almost iuipossible, — certainly difficult, — to
find a man of average intelligence who could consistently express a
doubt as to the financial stability of any well managed company tliat
might be mentioned. Today it is not a question of convincing a man
that the obligation will be met upon his death, or at whatever time
his policy may stipulate, but rather is it a matter of convincing him
of the dangers of delay, and that now is the time for him to take
action. So much for the evolution of the popular idea upon this great
subject.

The Old Line Life Insurance Company of America of Milwaukee
is founded and chartered according to the most modern provisions of
Wisconsin laws. Its char.ter was granted and its organization etfected
in 1910. In capital and surplus it was one of the largest companies
in the United States at the very inception of its career. It is the larg-
est life, accident and health insurance company organized under Wis-
consin's laws, and the largest stock life insiirance company organized
under the laws of this state. With assets of more than a million
dollars, it has been steadily climbing to a front rank among America's
leading insurance companies.

The Old Line Life Insurance Company of America, Milwaukee.
Wisconsin, is a strictly proprietary company, and its stock form of
organization furnishes a guarantee of conservative and economical
management. Though the companj^ has never offered anything but
strictly business forms of insurance contract and has retained all the
best features of the oldest conservative companies, it has, neverthe-
less, evolved policy forms more liberal in benefits to the holders than
any other single old-line company. The Old Line Life Insurance Com-
pany of America has always carefully distinguished what is feasible
from the Utopian in insurance, and its literature and policies deal only
with guarantees, but at the same time its officers have been able to
perfect many special features which appeal strongly to the average
person seeking insurance. A detailed explanation of these features
in non-technical language cannot be attempted here, but in a general
way it may be stated that they are designed, in so far as good business
will justify, to eliminate many of the strict literal provisions of insur-
ance contracts, so that the policy holder of good intentions, but the
victim of misfortune, shall not suffer from the strict construction of
his contract. There is a total disability benefit, through Avhicii the
company keeps up the premiums during the period of disability ; also
there are provisions for liberal days of grace for the payment of the
premiums; liberal cash surrender values; incontestibilit.y after jiolicy
is in force one year; reinstatement of policy after its lapse; absence
of familiar restrictions upon occupation, residence or travel, including

1584 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

military service, besides various other features that appeal to all
classes of people seeking insurance.

The officers and directors of The Old Line Life Insurance Company
of America comprise many oi the best known business men of Milwau-
kee and the state, and the entire organization speaks for stability and
integrity.

The present officers of the company are as follows : Rupert F. Fry,
president, concerning whom detailed mention is made in a sketch de-
voted to his life and work, to be found on other pages of this publica-
tion ; William A. Starke, vice-president ; F. X. Bodden, second vice-
president; John E. Reilly, secretary and treasurer; F. J. Tharinger,
assistant secretary; F. B. Golley, M. D., medical director; and Law-
rence A. Olwell, general counsel. The members of its board of direct-
ors are : M. L. Bunnell, county judge of Mauston, Wisconsin ; Frank
J. Kipp, vice-president of the W^adhams Oil Company of Milwaukee;
A. J. Mayer, treasurer of the Mayer Boot & Shoe Company, IMilwau-
kee; F. X. Bodden, assistant cashier Marshall & Ilsley Bank, ]Milwau-
kee ; M. H. Raymond, banker of Rhinelander, Wisconsin ; Thomas H.
Rice, secretary and treasurer. Bay View Steel Casting Company. ]\Iil-
waukee ; William A. Starke, president Lake Michigan Dredge & Dock
Company, Milwaukee; Rupert F. Fry, of Milwaukee; W. C. Stone,
banker of Watertown, Wisconsin ; Frank J. Lauerman, president
Lauerman Brothers, Marinette, Wisconsin; Patrick Noud, president
State Lumber Company, Manistee, Michigan ; A. F. JManegold, vice-
president Wauwatosa Stone Company, of Milwaukee ; J. L. l>ostwick
of J. L. Bostwick & Sons Department Store, Janesville, AVisconsin;
Adam Gettelman, president of the Gettelman Brewing Company, and
president West Side Bank of Milwaukee ; and Thomas J. Pringle, sec-
retary and manager Milwaukee Casket Company.

With such an official personnel as the above, it is needless to say
that further comment upon the management of The Old Line Life
Insurance Company of America is wholly unnecessary, this list being
one that will speak for itself in the state of Wisconsin, and wherever
these men are known, either as private citizens or in their business
capacities.

Joseph Wolter. It requires exceptional ability to rise from a
position as a wage-earning workman to such a place as Joseph Wolter
now commands in the business activities of Sturgeon Bay. Mr. Wolter
belongs to the well known firm of Rieboldt, Wolter & Company, whose
shipyards and floating dry-dock are the biggest industrial enterprise
of the city. Mr. Wolter is also president of the W^isconsin Dredge &
Dock Company at Sheboygan, a banker, and his standing in the com-
munity is well indicated by his incumbency of his office of the mayor of
the city of Sturgeon Bay for the past eight years.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1585

Joseph "Wolter was born in Milwaukee, "Wisconsin, May 17, 1857,
a son of William and Catherine AVolter, both natives of Germany, but
married in Milwaukee. The father died in that city in 1907, but the
mother about 1888. William Wolter was likewise a shipbuilder, and
for man}' years was employed by the ^Volf & Davidson Company of
Milwaukee. The children of the parents were : Mary, who still keeps
up the old home at Milwaukee ; Joseph ; Charles, deceased ; and Anna,
Mrs. Peter Jones of Milwaukee.

The youth of Joseph Wolter was spent in ^Milwaukee. An important
incident of his early j-ears was his attendance in the Catholic parochial
school, but after the fundamentals of education had been acquired he
soon found a place where he could contribute to his own support in the
shipbuilding yards of Wolf & Davidson. Once engaged in that line of
industry he has never for any length of time departed from it. Learn-
ing the trade of shipwright, he was advanced step by step, until he be-
came foreman with Wolf & Davidson, when still a comparatively young
man. In 1885, he and a fellow workman, August Rieboldt, went to
Sheboygan and established a shipyard for themselves. A short time
later they started the construction in their yards of the ' ' Helena ' ' which
for a time was the largest boat sailing the great lakes. Those familiar
with lake shipping will recall a great many boats that have come out of
the Rieboldt & Wolter yards, and some of the most prominent of these
are mentioned as follows: "Marion," the "John Schroeder," the "E.
A. Shores," and many tugs and smaller crafts. Their tirm also built
three wooden boats, used by the fire department at Milwaukee. In
1896, Rieboldt & Walter moved their floating docks to Sturgeon Bay,
and there established complete facilities for ship building. Their in-
dustry, giving employment to from fifty to two hundred men has the
largest payroll among the various industries of Sturgeon Bay, and for
seventeen years the business has contributed a large proportion of
Sturgeon Bay's industrial prosperity. In the summer of 1913 the
fifty-fifth large boat Avas being constructed in the yards, and in the
meantime they have completed many thousands of dollars worth of
repairing and rebuilding. Since 1890, the partners have been engaged
in dredging operations continuously.

In 1890 the Wisconsin Dredge and Dock Company was incorporated,
its fifty thousand dollars of capital all being paid in and Mr. Wolter
became president, C. A. Reiss, secretary and treasurer. The head-
quarters of this company are at Sheboygan. The company have sev-
eral dredges, and pile drivers and have performed many large con-
tracts in various quarters of the great lakes.

Besides his interest in the Wisconsin Dredge & Dock Company, and
the Rieboldt & Wolter Company, Mr. Wolter has various connections
with other enterprises. He is vice president of the Bank of Sturgeon
Bar.

1586 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

lie is one of the men who have undertaken successfully to show the
possibilities of fruit growing in this part of Wisconsin, and with Mr.
Rieboldt and Henry Fetzer, is joint proprietor of an eighty-acre orchard
at the edge of Sturgeon Bay, known as the Big Creek Orchard Company.

Perhaps nothing indicates Mr. Wolter's character and attainments
better than his continued retention in the office of mayor of Sturgeon
Bay. He was first elected to that office in 1905. Although a Democrat,
and living in a strongly Republican community, he has defeated his
various opponents, usually two to one, and at one time at one election
three to one. He and his family are members of the St. Joseph's Cath-
olic church, and he is financial secretaiy of the Catholic Knights of Wis-
consin. He is also a member of the Twenty Club of Sturgeon Bay, an
exclusive social organization of the city.

In May, 1879, Mr. Wolter married Regina Sery, wlio died iu ^lay,
1888, leaving three children as follows : Agnes ; Charles H.. who by
his marriage to Emma Thomas, has one child, Alfred; and Joseph G.
In September, 1889, Mr. Wolter married Agnes Ferger. The children
of this union are: Catherine. Eleanor, William. Regina, Cecelia, Aurelia,
Genevieve and Henry.

A. J. Kreitzer, M. D. In practice at Sturgeon Bay since 1896, Dr.
Kreitzer is in point of continuous activity the oldest physician of the
city. He is successful in his profession, a man of exceptional attain-
ments, widel.y known and respected as a citizen, and has an intimate
part in local business affairs, being president of the Bank of Sawyer.
A. J. Kreitzer was born in Germany, in the Province of West Prussia,
March 15, 1858. About the time A. J. Kreitzer passed his ninth birth-
day the family left the fatherland, and after a voyage of seven^weeks,
a sailing vessel landed them at Montreal, Canada. From Montreal they
proceeded to Detroit, and thence to Milwaukee. After a brief stay in
the Wisconsin metropolis, they found a permanent home at Port Wash-
ington, where Dr. Kreitzer grew up and finished his education begun
originally in the schools of Germany. His first regular vocation Avas
that of teaching, having obtained a certificate of (pialification for that
profession soon after leaving the public schools. For eleven years Dr.
Kreitzer was in the practical work of education in Ozaukee county,
and during four years of that time was superintendent of schools.
In the meantime he had definitely determined i;pon niedicine as his
vocation, and after spending one year in reading at Port Washington
under the preceptorship of Dr. Eli Smith, now deceased, he entered
Rush Medical College at Chicago, Avhere he was graduated M. D.
wdth the class of 1896. In the same year he located at Sturgeon Bay,
and has ever since been a resident of that portion of Sturgeon Bay
knowni as Sawyer, at one time an independent municipality, but now

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1587

the Fourth Ward of the larger city. Dr. Kreitzer is a member of the
Fox River Valley Medical Society.

Ever since locating in Sturgeon Bay, Dr. Kreitzer has taken an
active part both in business and public atifairs. For four vears he
was a member of the school board, and two years of that time was
spent as president. He has also served as president of the Door &
Kewaune County "Training School Board. In 1911 Dr. Kreitzer was
the nominee of the Progressive partj^ for the office of State "Senator.
When the Bank of Sawyer was organized, Dr. Kreitzer was among
the men Avho contributed their personal resources and their business
experience to the establishment of that institution, and has been its
president ever since. Dr. Kreitzer is also a stockholder in the Idlewild
Inn, a popular summer resort on Green Bay. He is also identified
with other local affairs.

On November 4, 1882, Dr. Kreitzer married Miss Mary Jane Ander-
son, of Port Washington. Their family of children are named as fol-
lows: Adelia; Ellen, Mrs. E. V. Clark; Nellie; and Gusta. Dr. and
Mrs. Kreitzer are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church.

Eugene C. Hart. No history of W^isconsin would be in any way
complete were not frequent and extended inention made of the men
who control its maritime traffic, which during the past several decades
has been developed in a marvelous degree. From earliest boyhood,
Eugene C. Hart, president of the Hart Transportation Company, of
Sturgeon Bay, has been connected with water transportation ; and as the
directing head of the prominent concern which bears his name is
widely known among vessel-men of the Great Lakes. He was born
at Oconto, Oconto county, Wisconsin, December 7, 1880, and is a son
of the late Capt. Clifford B. and Harriet E. (St. Ores) Hart.

Edwin Hart, the grandfather of Eugene C. Hart, was one of the
pioneers of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Avas an early contractor, and built
the old stone lighthouse at Long-Tail Point, for many years one of the
land-marks of Green Bay. He also studied law, was admitted to the
bar, and eari-ied on a successful practice both at Green Bay and Oconto.
He died at the home of a daughter at Menominee, Wisconsin, and was
laid to rest in the cemetery at Oconto. Clifford B. Hart was born at
Green Bay, and there grcAV up, securing his education in the public
schools, although it is likely that he paid more attention to the water
and its navigation than he did to the text-books or his teachers. With
a lad's love of adventure and an inherent affection for things nautical,
he eagerly sought opportunity on every possible occasion to make
vessel trips of any nature, and when he was only twelve years old
became the owner of a small boat which he used in carrying baggage
between Oconto' and Green Bay. When he was sixteen years of age
he was the proud possessor of a schooner, and soon he became known

1588 HISTORY OF AVISOONSIN

at the different points along the coast, and gradually extended his
operations by adding a number of tugs to his equipment. Out of this
developed what was known as the Hart Steamboat Line, traveling
from Green Bay, to which point Captain Hart had removed from
Oconto, and at one time he had five boats running between Green Bay
and the "Soo. " During the winter of 1905, he sold out to the Green
Bay Transportation Company, intending to retire from active business,
but in the spring, when the ice cleared away, he could not resist the
call of the water, and, accordingly, he came to Sturgeon Bay, where
he was the owner of dock jDroperty, and started the Hart Transporta-
tion Company, having at that time just one steamer, the "Sailor Boy."
The company was incorporated in the fall of 1906, with Clifford B.
Hart as president, Mrs. C. B. Hart as vice-president and Eugene C.
Hart, secretary and treasurer. The vessels now include the "Bon Ami"
and the ' ' Thistle, ' ' and trips are made between Escanaba and Sturgeon
Bay, carrying both passengers and freight and making connections
with all lake points. The firm also deals extensively in all grades of
coal. Mr. Hart continued actively connected with the business until
the time of his death, which occurred March 19, 1913. A self-made
man in the fullest sense of the title, his character was one which was
admirably adapted to his chosen calling. Fearless in his courage, of
luieompromising honesty and integrity, he won respect and admiration
from his associates and employes alike. His experiences were of varied
and interesting character, and his vocation brought him into contact
with all kinds and conditions of men. Those in his employ knew him
as a rigid disciplinarian, yet he was ever just, and while malcontents
met with a rigid front, those who were faithful in their performance
of duty found him a friend and protector. He was a Mason of high
standing, having taken the thirty-second degree at Milwaukee, and
also held membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
His widow still survives him and makes her home with her son at
Sturgeon Bay. They had but two children : Lewis, who died as a child
of four years; and Eugene C.

Eugene Clifford Hart spent the first five years of his life in Oconto,
and the family then moved to Green Bay, where he grew to maturity.
He was given good educational advantages, attending the public schools
and the business college in that city, and upon the completion of his
course in the latter institution became purser on one of his father's
boats. He subsequently entered the offices and after some experience
as bookkeeper was made secretary and treasurer of the Hart Steam-
boat Line, a position he continued to hold until the business was sold.
Tn 1905 he came to Sturgeon Bay, and with his father laid the founda-
tion for the Hart Transportation Company, upon the incorporation of
which he was made secretary and treasurer of the company. At the
time of his father's death he succeeded the elder man in the presidency.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1589

Inheriting many of his father's sterling qualities of character, as well
as his business ability, he has been able to maintain the firm's high
reputation in shipping circles and to secure for his vessels a full share
of the business carried on upon the lakes. Like his father, he has been
interested in fraternal matters, being a member of the Masonic Blue
Lodge, Chapter and Council at Sturgeon Bay, and also holding mem-
bership in the Knights of Pythias. He belongs likewise to the Twenty
Club, and has many friends in all of these organizations.

On March 22, 1904, Mr. Hai-t was married to Miss Ruble Irene Rob-
bins, of Green Bay, and to this union there have come two children :
Harold E. and Marion Ethel. Mr. and Mrs. Hart reside in a pleasant
home on Sherman street and are general favorites in social circles of
Sturgeon Bay.

William E. AVagexer. Associated intimately with the professional,
business and civic interests of Sturgeon Ba}^, William E. W^agener, city
attorney and president of the Door County Land Company, is ac-
counted one of the prominent figures of the younger generation in the
life and activities of his community. He has contributed to the growth
and material advancement of his city in various ways, and may be said
to be representatiA'e of the enthusiastic and energetic young auen of this
part of the Badger State who are making their section one of the most
prosperous in the Union. Mr. Wagener is a native of Sturgeon Bay, and
was born October 25, 1882, a son of Arnold and Isabelle (Terrens)
Wagener.

Arnold Wagener was born in Germany, and was a child when he
left the Fatherland with his parents, the family emigrating to the
United States and locating at Mishicott, in Manitowoc county, Wiscon-
sin. There the youth grew up, obtaining an ordinary education in the
district schools, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the
Civil war. and when he was but seventeen years of age he left home
and shouldered a musket in defense of his adopted flag. Enlisting in
Company A, Fifth Regiment, W^isconsin Volunteer Infantry, with other
youths from ]\Iishicott, he saw three years of active and arduous serv-
ice, his engagements including the battle of Gettysburg and other
sanguine struggles. He was twice wounded, and his entire military
record was characterized by the utmost bravery and devotion to duty.
Upon receiving his honorable discharge, Mr. Wagener went to the
West, and there spent several months at the hazardous occupation of
driving a supply wagon across the plains, succeeding which he re-
turned to Wisconsin and entered the employ of the Sehlitz Brewing
Company, at Milwaukee. He came to Sturgeon Bay about the year
1873 and in this village, then in its infancy he established himself in-
business with a brother as the proprietor of a brewery, and this grew
to be one of the leading enterprises of its kind in Door county, Mr.

1590 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Wagener developing into a man of i:)rominenee and means. He was
widely known in political matters of this section, gave his support un-
falteringly to the Democratic party, and at various times was honored
by election to public office, serving as alderman and postmaster of
Sturgeon Bay and as sheriff of Door county. His public service was
marked by the same faithfulness and courage that had won him the
regard of his comrades in the army and the services he rendered his
community placed him among the helpful men of his day. Standing
high among the Germans of Sturgeon Bay, he was a leading member
of the Sons of Hermann, and was connected with that organization at
the time of his death, which occurred July 17, 1902. Mr. Wagener was
married in 1873 to Miss Isabelle Terrens, who survives him and still
makes her home in Sturgeon Bay, and the children born to this union
were as follows: Dr. Hubert, a successful druggist of Sturgeon Bay,
who is at present serving in the capacity of highway commissioner of
Door county; Anna; Arnold; William E., of this review; AValter, and
Lionel.

William E. Wagener grew to manhood in the city of his nativity,
here securing his preliminary literary training in the public schools.
After graduating from the high school in 1902, he became a student in
the law department of the University of Wisconsin, at i\Iadison, and in
1906 was graduated therefrom with his degree. In the same year he
was admitted to the bar, and after a short practice at Sawyer returned
to Sturgeon Bay and opened his present offices, located over the Bank of
Sturgeon Bay. He has succeeded in building up an excellent profes-
sional business, and his reputation among his fellow-practitioners is
high. Like his father, he is a Democrat, and in 1908 he became the
candidate of his party for the office of city attorney. In the election
which followed he received a handsome majority, succeeded W. E.
Garde in the office, and has continued to discharge the duties of his
position in an eminently satisfactory manner. Aside from his law
practice, Mr. Wagener 's activities are devoted to the real estate busi-
ness, and he is now president of the Door County Land Company, of
which he was one of the organizers.

In 1909, Mr. Wagener was united in marriage with IMiss Lucy Rys-
dorp, of Sturgeon Bay, and two children have been born to this union :
Dorothy Dean and Ruth Isabelle. The pleasant family home is located
on Cedar street, near the hospital.

P. S. RoBBiNS. One of the greatest lumbering and manufacturing
industries of northern Wisconsin, the Robbins Lumber Company of
Rhinelander represents in a large degree the successful outcome of
one man 's energy, ambition and enterprise, protracted through a series
of years from a time when 'he Avas a raw recruit in the lumber woods
of ^Michigan. F. S. Robbins, president of the company has an inter-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1591

esting career, though it must be realized largely in comparing his early
beginnings with his later success, for like many of the veteran lum-
bermen he is extremely modest as to his own pai't in his life's record.

The Bobbins Lumber Company are manufacturers and wholesale
dealers in all kinds of lumber, and particularly in hardwood flooring.
Their chief plant and offices are at Rhinelander. Mr. Robbins estab-
lished the business here in 1886, only a few years after the town was
laid out. The extent of the business is more easily compi'ehended
when it is stated that the company owns and operates a very complete
system of narrow-gauge railroad, with a mileage of forty-six miles,
running from Rhinelander to Sugar Camp north, and within six miles
of Eagle River. Another branch runs from Pine Lake to Eagle Chain
of Lakes, and another branch to Virgin Lake and Lake Julia. The
general equipment of this railroad comprises one hundred log cars,
five box cars, one passenger coach, four locomotives, two moguls, one
consolidated and one single top, four-wheeler engines. During the
winter seasons in the woods, the company employs five hundred men,
and keep about one hundred and thirty in the Avoods during the sum-
mer. Some one hundred and fifty hands are employed in the sawmills
and planing mills. At Rhinelander is located a large mill and a
planing mill, and also the factory for hardwood flooring.

Mr. Robbins established this business with Mr. S. H. Baird, under
the naHie of Baird and Robbins. Later Mr. Baird retired, and W. H.
BroAvn came in as partner. The business was incorporated December
3, 1894, as BroAvn & Robbins, and on February 1, 1901, the name was
changed to the Robbins Lumber Company, with Mr. Robbins as presi-
dent and treasurer. R. D. Caldwell is vice-president, and Hattie Mc-
Indoe is secretary. Mr. Robbins is one of the veterans of the lumber
business, having become identified with it in Michigan in 1868, and
moving from that state to Wisconsin in 1896. Among his other inter-
ests he is half OAvner in the Rhinelander Lumber and Coal Company, a
large retail concern.

F. S. Robbins was born in Potter county, Pennsylvania, May 5,
1842, a son of James G. and Olive E. (Slade) Robbins. His father,
Avho was a farmer, moved out to Michigan, and in 1856 located in
Osceola county, where his Avas-the first family to make permanent
settlement. In that section of the state the father entered government
land, paying seventy-five cents an acre for it. That continued to be
the home of the Senior Robbins until his death at Crapo in Osceola
county. Mr. F. S. Robbins gave the name to the village in Avhieh his
father died, thus honoring the name of Governor Crapo of Michigan.
Thirteen years old at the time of the family's removal to Michigan, F.
S. Robbins grew to manhood there, lived on a farm, and had a fair
education. He Avas still under age AAdien the Civil war came on, and in
April, 1862, he enlisted for the cause of the Union in Company F of

15!)2 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

the Third Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and saw two years of active
service in the war. After the war he spent two years in the soutliwest
along the Rio Grande River, after which he returned to his old home
in Osceola county, and began farming on a place adjoining that of his
father. Not long after that he got his first regular experience as a
lumberman, when he began logging on the Muskegon River, and from
that time to the present has been identified with every phase of the
lumber industry.

In 1866, Mr. Robbins was married to Emma B. Haymond of Car-
margo, Mexico. However, she was born and reared in Fairmount,
West Virginia, though Fairmount at the time was in Old Virginia.
Mrs. Robbins is the mother of three children : Howard G., in the timber
business at Spokane, Washington, and president of the Spokane Paint
& Oil Company; Hattie L., the wife of Dr. T. B. Mclndoe; and Minnie
R., the widow of Charles S. Chapman. Fraternally Mr. Robbins is
affiliated Avith the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Joseph Melchoir Schauer, in the course of his active and diversified
life, has steadily risen from a humble clerkship in a clothing store,
through various positions connected with the railroad industry to the
l^osition of general manager and secretary of one of Sturgeon Bay's
leading enterprises, the Dorr County Land Company. He has shown
himself a thoroughly competent man of affairs and a useful and* genial
member of social circles, and in the management of his various ventures
has brought into play tact, prudence, integrity and courtesy, each in its
way a superior excellence.

Mr. Schauer is a native of the Badger State, having been born on
his father's farm at New Franken, Brown county, January 16, 1871,
and is a son of Melchoir and Clara (Lereheidt) Schauer. His parents
were among the pioneer settlers of Brown county, Avhere the father
took up a homestead from the Government at a time when there were
but three or four houses in the hamlet of Green Bay, and there they
continued to spend their lives in the occupations connected with the
successful tilling of the soil. They were the parents of thirteen chil-
dren, of whom eight now survive : Lawrence ; Anna ; Lena, who became
the Avife of Alphonse Lemensc; Gertrude; August; Peter; Catherine,
and Joseph Melchoir. Like the majority of farmer's sons of his day
and locality, Joseph M. Schauer divided his boyhood days between as-
sisting his father in the Avork of the homestead and attending the dis-
trict schools, the latter during the short terms of the Avinter months.
Later he Avas given further training in the business college at Green Bay,
and having tasted of the excitement of city life he did not feel satisfied
to return to the simple duties of the farm. Accordingly he secured a
clerkship in a Green Bay clothing store, but one year sufficed to satisfy
him that he had not yet found his proper field of endeavor, and he sub-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1593

sequeutly entered the employ of the Green Bay & AVestern Railway,
being in charge of the station at New Franken for two years. He was
later transferred to the station at Grand Rapids, where he continued
one year, and succeeding this went to Algoma, Wisconsin, as station
agent for the Ahnapee Western Railway (now the Green Bay & West-
ern) and after being there three years was transferred to Sturgeon Bay.
Here he experienced seven years as station agent and one year as a mem-
ber of the auditing department, but constant and arduous work had
broken his health, and for one year he was forced to live retired from
all business activity. When he had recuperated, he looked about for
an occupation which would allow him some freedom in the open air,
and eventually chose the real estate business, having recognized an op-
portunity to become a broker at Sturgeon Bay. From that time his
success was assured. He became eminently successful in his new line,
won recognition in realty circles, and when the Door County Land Com-
pany was organized in 1909, he invested his capital as a stockholder and
was made secretary and general manager of the concern. This firm
was incorporated December 20, 1909, with $15,000 capital, its first busi-
ness being done in connection with the disposal of the Decker Estate.
It has enjoyed a rapid and continuous growth, and at this time owns
over 32,000 acres of improved and unimproved land in Door county, in-
cluding cherry orchards, fruit lands, city realty, farms, etc. The firm
deals in abstracts of title; buys, sells and exchanges real estate; makes
loans and investments and buys and sells on commission, and a specialty
of the business is the sale of farm and fruit lands on easy terms. The
company occupies handsome offices in the Bank of Sturgeon Bay build-
ing, and the officers at this time are: W. E. Wagener, president; J. A.
Spalsbury, vice-president; J. M. Schauer, secretary and manager, and
Henry Graass, treasurer. Mr. Schauer has devoted his entire attention
to the development of this venture, and his untiring efforts have brought
it to the forefront among Wisconsin land companies. This success has
not been gained by any doubtful methods. He has passed through his
ordeal "with no smell of fire upon his garments." He staked his hopes
of success upon his adherence to the strictest integrity, the best stand-
ards of business honor. Among his associates he is known as a man of
excellent judgment whose grasp of business problems is firm. And as
he has won their confidence by his business ability, so has he won their
friendship by a pleasant and genial personality.

In June, 1896, Mr. Schauer was married to Miss Josephine "Welniak,
of Algoma, Wisconsin, and this union has been blessed by the birth of
two bright and interesting children : Genevieve and Leo. Mr. and Mrs.
Schauer are members of the St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church, where
Mr. Schauer formerly served as a member of the board of trustees. His
fraternal connections include membership in the Catholic Order of For-
esters and the Knights of Columbus.

1594 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

William F. ]\IcCaughey. The field of Life Insurance in Wisconsin
has no abler, or more energetic representative than the General Agent
of the Northwestern Mutual Life at Racine. Mr. McCaughey has had
a wide and varied experience in business affairs beginning when he was
a boy as clerk in a Cincinnati Dry Goods House. Later, he became
interested in and devoted fifteen years as General Secretary to the work
of the Young ]\Ien's Christian Association. Something more than thir-
teen years ago he entered the field of Life Insurance. He possesses the
energy and address, which are so requisite to success in this department
of work, these qualities are also reenforced by his enthusiasm for, and
faith in, Life Insurance as one of the essential requirements of modern
life.

William F. McCaughey is a native of Ohio, where his parents were'
among the early settlers. He was born in Akron, June, 1861, a son of
Rev. William and Lucy Alter McCaughey. His father is a native of
Ohio and his mother of Virginia. The father devoted the best years
of his life, a period of half a century, to the ministry of the Presbyte-
rian Church. He is now living retired in his eighty-fourth year, one of
the honored workers of his profession.

Mr. McCaughey became identified with Life Insurance in 1901, when
he became District Agent of the Northwestern ]\Iutual Life Insurance
Company at Janesville, Wisconsin. Two years later, in 1903, he estab-
lished his office in Racine. In 1907 he was made General Agent and
the supervision of ninety agents Avorking in fifteen counties in the south-
ern part of the state were placed under his jurisdiction. The Home
Office of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company is in Mil-
waukee and it is one of the best known of Wisconsin's corporations.

Fraternally, he is one of the leading Masons, being a member of
Racine Lodge No. 18, F. & A. M. ; Orient Chapter, R. A. M.; Racine
Commandery No. 7, K. T. ; Tripoli Temple of Mystic Shrine of Mil-
waukee, and has attained to the thirty-second degree of the Scottish
Rite. He is also affiliated with the Racine Lodge No. 252 of the Elks
and the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias.

In 1905 Mr. McCaughey organized the Six 'Clock Club, which was
in 1912 reorganized into the Commercial Club of Racine. He was, in
1913, elected President of this organization.

Both in Life Insurance circles and socially, he is one of the well
known and popular citizens of Racine.

Horatio V. Gard. An enumeration of those men of the present
generation wdio have won distinction and public recognition for them-
selves, and at the same time have honored the community to which
they belong, would be incomplete were there failure to make reference
to Horatio V. Gard, city attorney of Superior, and for tAventy years
one of the prominent representatives of the legal profession in this

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1595

city. A man of high intellectuality, broad human sympathy and tol-
erance, and imbued with fine sensibilities and clearly defined principles,
he also possesses the executive capacity necessary to the capable
discharge of the duties of his official position, and the signal services
he has rendered Superior have gained for him a recognized position in
public and professional life.

Horatio V. Gard is a native Illinoisan, born in Clark county, Decem-
ber 30, 1862, and is a son of Allen T. and Martha A. (Garner) Gard, na-
tives of Licking county, Ohio. Allen T. Gard received good educational
advantages in his youth, and early adopted the profession of school
teacher, although he was reared on a farm. After his marriage, which
took place in Ohio, he made removal to Clark county, Illinois, in 1861,
and for forty-two consecutive years continued to be one of the best-
known educators in the Prairie State. He was also well known in
public life, serving as Township School Treasurer for eighteen years
and as justice of the peace for tAvelve years, and was highly esteemed
Avherever known. His political belief was that of the Democratic party,
and fraternally he was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. His death occurred in 1907, when he was seventy-seven years
of age, while his widow still survives, and has reached the advanced
age of eighty years. Of their six children, five are living. Horatio V.
was the third in order of birth.

Mr. Gard was given a good educational training in his youth, early
studying under the preceptorship of his father, and subsequently
attending the normal school of his native locality. He commenced his
law studies in the law department of the University of Michigan, at
Ann Arbor, Avhere he received his degree in 1892, and soon thereafter
was admitted to practice before the bar. Coming to Superior the same
year, he established himself in practice, and since that time he has
become known as one of the ablest legists of the Douglas county bar,
being attorney for such well known concerns as the United States Na-
tional Bank, the Bank of Commerce and the Webster Manufacturing
Company. He is a close student and faithfully observes the unwritten
ethics of the profession, having the respect of his confreres and the
confidence of the public at large. Anything that affects the material
welfare of his adopted city or its people at once enlists his active and
intelligent interest, and he -has always allied himself with movements
calculated to make for progress or advancement along the lines of
education, morality and good citizenship. For one term he served as
a member of the library board. As a Democrat of long standing, he
was appointed police commissioner of Superior, but after three years
resigned to accept the office of city attorney, to which he was appointed
in May, 1912. In his official capacity he is rendering able service, and
his record is that of a conscientious and faithful public servant. He

1596 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

mamtains well-appointed offices at No. 201-3 Bank of Commerce
Building.

Herman Gross. The business career of Herman Gross in these parts
has been of ever upward progress, and from a very small beginning he
has evolved a success worthy of the name. Today, as a member of the
firm of Gross & Neergaard, manufacturers and dealers, his place in
Kenosha business circles is most secure, and his plant and factory is
known for one of the principal ones of its kind in the city.

Mr. Gross is not a native American, but was born on May 19, 1860,
in Norway, coming to these shores when he was twenty-two years old,
the year 1882 marking his advent into American life. He stopped a
short time in Chicago, and in 1884: came to Kenosha, here engaging in
contracting and building for a brief period, and then entering the
employ of the Grant Planing Mill. For sixteen years Mr. Gross con-
tinued to be identified with this representative concern, and then he
built a new mill, operating it on his own responsibility under the name
of the Kenosha Sash & Door Co. for six years. In 1904 the present
partnership of Gross & Neergaard was formed, Arthur Neergaard
joining him in the business, and since that time the concern has been
run on a successful basis under their united names. They manufacture
and deal in sash, doors, mouldings and interior finishing, and have an
immense trade in these parts. Their plant is at the corner of Park and
Valentine streets, and is one of the best conducted factories to be found
hereabouts.

Mr. Gross is one of the most successful Norwegian manufacturers
of Kenosha, and his place in business circles is in every way worthy
of his enterprise and activities in the years that he has been here
engaged in the business.

On September 4, 1886, Mr. Gross was married in Kenosha county
to Miss Alice Morehouse, a daughter of Louis and Hannah Morehouse.
Eight children have been born to them, five of whom are living and are
named as follows: Harry; Dora H. ; William H. ; Norman M.; and
Edna N. Gross.

Alexander Ivey. Since 1878 Lancaster has been the business head-
quarters of Alexander Ivey as well as his place of residence, and he
has long since come to be recognized as one of the substantial factors
in the business and civic life of the city. Merchandising has consti-
tuted his main activities, and he has taken a foremost place among the
merchants of the community, Avhile his citizenship has long been recog-
nized as being of the most dependable order. A veteran of the Civil
war, he gave long and valiant service in Company D Seventh Wiscon-
sin Volunteer Infantry. He went from North Carolina to Camp Ran-
dall at Madison to enlist and he participated in a number of the vital

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1597

engagements of the long and bitter conflict, suffering the loss of a
leg at Gettysburg.

Born in Cornwall, England, on ]\Iarch 10, 1837, Alexander Ivey is
the son of Joseph and Miriam (Eudey) Ivey, both natives of Cornwall.
The father, who was a captain in the Cornwall mines, came to America
in 1837 with his Avife and infant son, Alexander, of this review, and
located at York, Pennsylvania. He there engaged in mining, the busi-
ness in which he had been bred in his native land, and continued thus
until he lost his life in the Henrietta mines at York, when a drift fell
upon him. It is a singular fact that the father of Mrs. Ivey, Alexander
Eudey, who was also a mining captain, came to America and located in
California, there losing his life in a mining shaft, in much the same
manner as did Mr. Ivey.

The widowed mother of Alexander Ivey later married one Josiah
Tremelon and settled in Virginia. One child was born to that union,
—a daughter, who is now deceased. The mother died in 1847 at
the family home at Harrison, "Wisconsin. In 1846, however, the fam-
ily had removed to North Carolina and in the same year moved to the
state of Wisconsin, locating in Rockville, Harrison township, in Grant
county, and settling in a log cabin that the head of the family, Josiah
Tremelon, built. They had a small and not overly productive farm,
mostly wild land and heavily timbered, and many difficulties were ex-
perienced by them all. The death of the mother caused the removal
of young Ivey to the home of an aunt in Rockwell, and until his
twenty-first year he made his home there. His early education was
extremely limited, but in 1857 he attended Platteville Academy for a
time, and then started out to make his own way. He first secured w^ork
as a clerk in a general store in British Hollow, Grant county, and
there continued for a year. He then turned his attention to mining,
the instinct of generations of mining men coming to the front when
activities in the lead mines of Grant county came on. In 1855 he
made a trip back to North Carolina, remaining until 1861, when he
came back by way of Baltimore, at a time when the Civil war troubles
were beginning to take shape and form in the south. He witnessed
some riotous scenes in the south, and soon returned to British Hollow,
where after a brief interval he enlisted for service in Company D of
the Seventh "Wisconsin Infantry, on September 9, 1861. He was. a
participant in many hard fought engagements in the Army of the
Potomac until the battle of Gettysburg. He was severely wounded
in that engagement on July 1, 1863, his wound necessitating the amira-
tation of his leg at the knee cap and he was then discharged from
the service because of disability, his discharge coming on IMay 14, 1864.
He was active in the engagements at Janesville, "Virginia, Second Bull
Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Virginia, Chancel-

1598 HISTOEY OP WISCONSIN

lorsville, Rappahannock Station, White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, and
Gettysburg.

Upon his return from the war, Mr. Ivey after a short time fitted
himself out with an artificial limb and once more resumed the prosaic
duties of clerk in a general store in British Hollow, and continued
there until he came to Lancaster in 1875 and identified himself with
the mercantile business of this city as proprietor and oAvner of an
establishment. His years of active life in British Hollow were filled
with service and he was a staunch and true citizen there as he has ever
been in Lancaster. In 1866 he was elected town clerk of Potosa and
also held the office of Justice of the Peace, serving for six years, when
he withdrew from public service and confined his attention to the
mercantile business in British Hollow with John B. Wilson, under the
firm name of Wilson & Ivey. They continued thus for two years,
after which Mr. Ivey continued alone until 1869, when William E. Webb
became his business partner. In 1874 Mr. Ivey was elected treasurer
of Grant county, and in that year he removed to Lancaster, the county
seat. He served four years as county treasurer, being re-elected for a
second two-year term. Here he has since made his home, and has car-
ried on a mercantile business of splendid proportions. Mr. Ivey still
is associated in his business with Mr. Webb, under the 'firm name of
Ivey & Webb, and the two are well established in the confidence and
esteem of Lancaster citizens, as well as those of adjacent towns.

On the 4th day of March, 1865, Mr. Ivey was married to Miss Annie
Eustice, a daughter of George Eustice, of British Hollow. They were
early settlers of the place, and natives of Germany, whence they emi-
grated in their young days. Seven children were born to these par-
ents, all of Avhom are living, and who are named as follows : Miriam ;
Joseph E. ; Mildred ; Ned Wheeler ; William LeRoy ; George Earl ;
Alexander.

Mr. Ivey is a stanch Republican, and has long supported the prin-
ciples of that party. He has served Lancaster as alderman^ as well as
in other offices, and in all his official connections has given worthy
service. He is a member of the G. A. R., and was for two and a half
years commander of Tom Cook Post No. 132. In 1882 he was appointed
quartermaster of the post. He is a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows and has served as secretary of Lancaster Lodge of the
order.

Lewis Cass Barnett. The subject of this sketch, son of William
Barnett, was born of Scotch-Irish lineage at Greensburg, Ky. Here his
grandfather settled in the year 1780, having been a soldier in the War
of the Revolution. His boyhood was passed in that town in attendance
at the public schools. In 1864 the family moved to Rock Island, 111.
He attended the preparatory schools in Rock Island and Davenport

HISTORY OF WISCONSlx\ 1599

and then began his college course at Iowa State University, pursuing
his studies there for four years, after which he took up the occupation
of farming. This work did not give scope to his ambitions and we
find him entering the grain business. A little later he began in a small
way a contracting business, making a specialty of building grain
elevators.

In 1892 the Barnett & Eecord Co. Avas incorporated and established
at Minneapolis and under that name his business has been carried on
since, he being the President and active manager of the corporation.
This corporation is known throughout the country as builders of grain
elevators, mills, docks and other kinds of heavy structures and has
grown to be one of the leading concerns of the United States.

In 1905 there was incorporated in Canada the Barnett-McQueen Co.,
Ltd., of which Mr. Barnett is president. This company carries on an
extensive business in contracting in the Dominion of Canada.

Mr. Barnett is the active directing head of both of these corpora-
tions and is known and recognized as the moving spirit in the great
undertakings for which the concerns bearing his name are celebrated.

By close application to his business and by integrity in his dealings
he has established for himself and his concern a reputation second to
"wone in the United States.

Since 1893 he has made his home in Superior with the exception
of one and one-half years and has been devoting the greater portion
of his time to looking after his investments.

He is a director in the Fir^t National Bank, Superior, Wis., a
member of the Minneapolis Club of Minneapolis, the Iroquois Club of
Chicago, the Kitchi Gamma Club of Duluth and the Commercial and
Gitchi Nadji Clubs of Superior.

In 1893 he was united in marriage with Miss Laura Tombler and
to them has been born one daughter, Lucy Cable.

John M. ]\IcCoy. One of the progressive citizens and representative
business men of Milwaukee, John M. McCoy has also helped advance
the general good of the community, and his public spirit along practical
lines of philanthropy has been equal to his business ability. Big of
mind and big of heart, he has well employed his talents in whatever
angle of the fight fortune has placed him. Prominence as a man of
affairs, and of broad and varied business interests has for years been
his position, and as a resourceful and influential factor in the progress
and prosperity of Milwaukee along both civic and material lines he is
fully entitled to consideration in this history of Wisconsin.

John Martin McCoy was born in the city of Springfield, Hampden
county, Massachusetts, June 22, 1855. His parents, Martin and Mary
(Xolan) McCoy, were both born and reared in County Galway, Ireland,
and both were of old Irish stock, as is indicated by the fact that each of

1600 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

them spoke the original Gaelic language of the Emerald Isle with
marked fluency. They came to America about the year 1852, and
were married at Holyoke, Massachusetts. After several years' resi-
dence at Springfield, Massachusetts, they removed to the city of Boston,
Avhere Martin McCoy engaged in the work of his trade. In the early
part of the Civil war he manufactured cavalry boots for soldiers of
the Union. From Boston he finally removed his family to the village of
Abington, Plymouth county, a place situated on the Old Colony Road,
eighteen miles distance from Boston. There he maintained his resi-
dence until March 17, 1863, when he set forth for the Avest. He came
Avith his family to Wisconsin, and established his home in Mihvaukee,
where he found employment at his trade and Avhere he Avas for many
years in the employ of the Avell known firm of Bradley and Metcalf.
Martin McCoy Avas a man of alert mentality and Avell fortified opinions,
and was an active Avorker in connection Avith political affairs in Mil-
Avaiikee during the years of his business career in Wisconsin, though
he ncA-er manifested a desire for the honors or emoluments of public
office. He Avas a man of exalted integrity of character, of genial and
kindly nature, and all Avho knew him accorded to him the fiillest
measure of confidence and respect. He continued to reside in Mihvau-
kee until his death, Avhicli occurred on the second of July, 1886. His
Avife died several years later. Both Avere devout communicants of
the Catholic church. They became the parents of three sons and five
daughters, and of the six children noAV living, John M. is the eldest.
I\Iary maintains her home in the city of Chicago; Catherine, who is
noAV the Avife of Ignatius Stapleton of Portland, Oregon, first married
Captain John Sullivan, Avho, Avith three others, Avas killed just oft'
North Point on the Wisconsin Coast, in the explosion of the engine
on the tug 'A. W. LaAvrence, " during the middle of October, 1888.
Ellen is the AvidoAv of Thomas E. Barrett, a former sheriff of Cook
county, Illinois, the first Democratic sheriff elected in that county in a
period of thirty years, and Avho Avas likcAvise a prominent member of
the Chicago Board of Trade, and Mrs. Barrett noAv resides in Ravens-
Avood, Chicago. William H. and James E. McCoy reside in Mihvaukee.
John M. McCoy Avas a lad of eight years at the time of the family
removal from Massachusetts to Mihvaukee. Here he attended the St.
Gall's parochial school on the site of the present Public Service Build-
ing. After his school days, for a time he assisted his father in the
latter 's w^ork. His next employment Avas Avith the firm of Godfrey &
Crandall, printers and publishers, this firm having published the old-
time commercial letters as a source of daily record of the Mihvaukee
Board of Trade, at a time Avhen EdAvard Sanderson, Joseph Oliver,
William Young and other representative citizens Avere members of the
board. In 1876 Mr. McCoy engaged in business for himself by opening
a cafe and restaurant at 210 W. Water street. This became the most

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1601

popular establishment of its day in Milwaukee, and was successfully
conducted for years.

Mr. McCoy formulated his views on public matters, and became
an active factor in local political affairs. In April, 1885, he was elected
on the Democratic ticket as representative of the Fourth Ward on the
city board of aldermen, and upon the expiration of his three years ' term
in 1888 Avas made the nominee on the Fusion ticket, through the
medium of which he was reelected alderman for a term of two years.
As a member of the city council he Avas steadfast and loyal and did all
in his power to bring about a wise administration of the municipal
government. Prior to thus serving in the city council, he had served
as deputy sheriff of Milwaukee county, under the regime of Sheriff'
John R. Bentley. After his retirement from the office of alderman, Mr.
McCoy was appointed by Governor Geoi'ge W. Peck to the position of
state oil inspector for the district comprising Milwaukee, Ozaukee and
Washington counties, and he continued in that post during the admin-
istration of Governor Peck. He finally removed to the eighteenth ward
of Milwaukee, and in April, 1902, Avas elected alderman from this ward,
in which he has maintained his home for the past twenty years. In
1908 Mr. McCoy was the Democratic nominee for shei'iff of Mihvaukee
county, but met defeat in the general Republican predomination of
that year. As a member of the city council Mr. McCoy always mani-
fested the courage of his convictions, and was as ready at all times
to defend the rights of the people as he Avas to make evident his oppo-
sition to ill-advised policies and equivocal methods. He served on
many important committees of the council and his record as a public
officer is Avithout a shadoAv or a blot. He Avas a staunch friend of
the late Captain Pabst, and Avas interested in several enterprises
controlled by that representative and honored citizen.

Mr. McCoy continued his cafe bvisiness from 1876 to 1906, and his
establishment became virtuallj' as well and favorably knoAvn to the
general public as Avas the name of the city itself. His success has
been Avon through his OAvn well directed endeavors. He has made
many and important investments in Mihvaukee real estate. A numl)er
of years ago he sold eighty feet of frontage on West Water Street,
receiving therefor the highest price paid for frontage up to that time.

In September, 1912, Mr. McCoy made a very important investment
AA'hen he purchased the fine Hotel Charlotte property at 138 Third
Street in the very heart of the business district of Milwaukee. This
atU-active and essentially modern building is the only re-inforced
concrete and absolutelj' fire-proof hotel structure in Mihvaukee, and
the hotel is conducted by the Randolph Brothers Hotel Company.

In connection Avith political actiAdties, Mr. McCoy has been a dele-
gate to various conventions of his party including the national conven-
tion Avhich nominated Judge Parker for the presidency and the Wiscon-

1602 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

sin State Democratic Couveiition which nominated George W. Peck
for governor. As a citizen he has shown himself most public spirited
and progressive and his appreciation of the opportunities and advan-
tages which have enabled him to achieve large success in his present
business in Milwaukee has been shown in his enterprise along lines
that have conserved the material advantages of the city. He has
erected several dwelling houses and apartment buildings, and is still
actively engaged in the buying and selling of real estate, in which
line his operations have been of broad scope. He erected what is now
called the City Building, in which are kept the various municipal
supplies. He built this structure in 1905, and had a garage there until
1907, when he sold the property to the city. The building was orig-
inally known as the McCoy Building, and is located at 52-56 Biddle
Street. Mr. McCoy is one of the chief stockholders of the Prospect
Hill Land Company.

In the domain of practical philanthropy Mr. McCoy has achieved
no work of greater credit and benefit than that involved in his orig-
inating the plan of "the penny lunch" for the school children of his
home city. This provision now constitutes one of the most worthy
and successful benevolences of the city of Milwaukee. It was the sub-
ject of an extended article in the New York Tribune of March 10,
1907. These lunches are served' in the Milwaukee schools for the
benefit of the children in the departments of the first to the fourth
grade inclusive. Mr. McCoy inspired this innovation while a member
of the board of aldermen. He had learned from his Avife that their
washer-woman had on a certain occasion asked leave of absence at
the noon-hour and had stated as her reason that she had forgotten to
leave at home a nickel to supply her children with a loaf of bread for
dinner. She said also that the children had gone to school without any
breakfast and that the loaf of bread Avould constitute their noon-
meal. It is needless to say that I\Irs. McCoy provided a good dinner
for the children, and dispatched the same by the mother, and when,
with gentle sympathy, she related the incident to her husband, his
heart likewise Avas touched, and he began to giA'e the matter close
thought, Avitli a vieAV to devising Avays and means to ameliorate such
deplorable conditions. He later learned that in a local department
store a little cash girl had fainted from hunger and after these hap-
penings he publicly declared his conviction that hundreds of children
Avent to the piiblic schools Avitli insufficient breakfasts. He urged the
need of investigation and contributed to a fund Avhich started Avhat is
now knoAA^n as the "penny lunch,'' a system AA^hich has spread through
all parts of the United States and even to Europe. Mr. McCoy also
promised contributions to the fund if some Avomen's club or other
responsible organization Avould assume the administration of the money.
A sufficient sum Avas pledged before definite plans for its use Avere

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1603

formulated. Then the Woman 's School Alliance of Milwaukee became
interested in the project, with its membership of influential women
from all parts of the city. This noble organization of women has been
instrumental in effecting many reforms in public schools, and foremost
among the original devoted Avorkers of the cause were Mesdames W. H.
Halsey, C. B. Whitnall, W. Farnham, W. K. Downey, J. P. Miley and
H. Sullivan, of the School Alliance, and Mrs. McCoy, who became a most
zealous worker and generous contributor. The Milwaukee schools were
the first in which were served such lunches to children, the food pro-
vided being excellent though simple, and the expense to the child
being only the nominal sum of one penny. The women who assumed
charge of the penny-lunch fund were convinced that to serve free
lunches would but tend to encourage negligence on the part of those to
be aided. The service costs more than is received (at the low rate of
compensation, but is working most admirably, and the children show
an appreciation of the plan. The service was first inaugurated in the
city school for the deaf. Soon after the system was established there
came the problem of caring for the children who were unable to buy
■even a penny lunch. In these cases, under an absolute rule of secrecy
the children are provided with tickets, the child being allowed to sup-
pose that its lunch Avas being paid for in the usual way. In many in-
stances it has been shown that the supposedly dull children were not
dull but hungry, and the serving of the lunches has been folloAved by
greatly improved class Avork in the schools, this being a great argument
in favor of the noble work. The serving of the lunches has also proved
the means of giving employment to Avomen in the neighborhood of
the various schools and thus the benefits of the service are e\'en further
extended. The success and value of this philanthropy as shoAA-n by the
pioneer efforts in Milwaukee brought about a general aAvakening to
the importance of the matter, and today many of the leading cities
throughout the counti-y have adopted similar plans.

Mr. McCoy was a member of the council committee that first rec-
ommended the abolishing of horse-cars on the street railways of
MilAvaukee, and the substitution of electric service. He Avas also a
member of the committee that investigated electric plants and railways
in various cities, and Avas chairman of the railway committee of the
council. He thus exerted marked influence in gaining to Mihvaukee
the facilities and service noAv represented in its excellent system of
street railways. He is president of the McCoy-Nolan Heater and
Supply company, engaged in the handling of general supplies at whole-
sale and retail. He is vice president of the Thomas E. Hoye Heating
Company, besides being a director in several land companies. He is
affiliated with AVisconsin Lodge, No. 1, Knights of Pythias, and Mil-
Avaukee Conclave, No. 243, Order of Heptasophs. ]\Ir. McCoy Avas the
first initiate in the Fraternal Order of Eagles in the state of Wisconsin.

16U4 HISTORY OF AVISCONSIN

Both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church, being
members of the parish of Sts. Peter & Paul.

On the fifteenth of May, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
McCoy to Miss Julia Teagan, who was born and reared in Milwaukee,
and whose father, the late Thomas Teagan, was a pioneer citizen of
the First Ward. Mrs. McCoy is a woman of the most kindly and
gracious personality, instant in good works and generous of spirit, and
in her native city her circle of friends is limited only by that of her
acquaintances. IMr. and Mrs. McCoy have four sons, namely : John R.,
was graduated in St. John's Military Academy at Delafield, Wisconsin,
in which school he held the commission as lieutenant, and is now man-
ager of the McCoy-Nolan Heating & Supply JCompany, of which his
father is president; Ross A., who finished the work of the public
schools of the Eighteenth Ward, is a member of the firm of McCoy &
Thompson, conducting a first-class automobile garage and sales room
at Seymour, Indiana ; George N., Avho was a student of the Marquette
University of Milwaukee, is now a member of the class of 1915 in the
law department of Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana ;
and James A., is a student in the public schools of Milwaukee.

John P. Davies, president of the Racine Malleable & AVrought Iron
Company, was one of the popular, enterprising and pulilie-spirited men
of the city of Racine. His birth occurred January 31, 1853, in Racine,
but his parents, William and Ann (Pugh) Davies, were natives of Wales.

William Davies was a locomotive engineer in his native country, and
on coming, to America located in Racine, Wisconsin, where he followed
stationary engineering for several years in the lumber mills. He then
entered the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Com-
pany, in the shops at Racine, and there continued until his death, which
occurred in 1872. He married Ann Pugh, who survived him until
April 2, 1901, passing away aged seventy-one years. She was a mem-
ber of the Welsh Congregational Church. Mr. and Mrs. Davies had
six children born to them, of whom there are now living, namely : John
P.^ of Racine ; Elizabeth, the wife of T. M. Jones, of Racine ; and Grace,
the wife of W. 11. Rothermel, of Chicago.

John P. Davies was reared in Racine, and attended the public and
high schools. He began learning telegraphy when about sixteen years
of age in the Western Union Telegraph office at Racine, and the first
office of which he had charge was in that city. He then worked one
year in Chicago, and six months in Oshkosh, at the end of that time
entering the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company,
for which he was the operator and ticket clerk at the Racine depot for
several years. He then purchased an interest in the Jansen ]\Ianufac-
turing Company, and became one of the organizers, secretary and trea-
surer of the company, which was later reorganized, the name being

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1605

changed to the Racine Malleable & Wrought Iron Company; as such it
has continued since. Mr. Davies was secretary and treasurer of the
company for a few years, and then was elected president and general
manager. About 325 people are employed in the plant, where all kinds
of saddler}^ hardware and special castings are manufactured. The es-
tablishment was destroyed by fire July 13, 1898, at which time it was
located ou IMihvaukee Avenue and West street. In this conflagration
Mr. Davies personally lost $75,000 in about thirty minutes. The com-
pany chose a new location, Twenty-first and Clark streets, known as
Lakeside, and at once rebuilt the works. In the new plant there are six
large buildings and several smaller ones, built of brick, on modern plans.
Mr. Davies was also president of the Reliance Iron & Engine Company,
which is one of the new industries of Racine, for the manufacture of
gas and gasoline engines and castings of all kinds.

Fraternally Mr. Davies was a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging
to Racine Lodge, No. 18, F. & A. M. ; Orient Chapter No. 12, R. A. M. ;
Racine Commandery, No. 7, K. T., of which he was a past commander,
and Tripoli Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Politically he was
a Republican, and served as police commissioner one term, and as a
member of the board of education for the same length of time.

Ou May 12, 1884, Mr. Davies married Miss Cora A. Crane, daughter
of Mrs. Jennie (Burch) Crane, and she died eleven months after mar-
riage, of typhoid fever. Mr. Davies married September 17, 1889, Miss
Lillie E. Case, daughter of DeWayne and Eliza (Greenhow) Case,
and to this union have been born four children: John P., Jr., Anna
E., and Frank Case and Clinton William twins. The family reside
at No. 744 College Avenue. Mr. Davies was genial and affable and
possessed a kind heart. Domestic in his tastes and habits, he loved
his home, and it was there he was to be found after a busy day at his
office. John P. Davies died December 11, 1911.

Judge H. F. Steele, county judge of Oneida countj^, Wisconsin,
with office and residence at Rhinelander, in Oneida county, was ap-
pointed to the judgeship in 1912 to fill an unexpired term caused
by the death of the late Judge Levi J. Billings. In the spring of 1913
Judge Steele was elected to the office for the full term of six years.
Judge Steele has been a resident of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, since the
autumn of 1905. He was born at Eldorado, near Fond du Lac, Wiscon-
sin, on February 28, 1878, and is a son of John F. and Charlotte M.
(Holliday) Steele.

Both parents of Judge Steele are now deceased, the father having
died in 1902, while the mother passed away in 1880, when their son
was yet a mere infant. The father came to Wisconsin, from Oneida
county. New York, in 1848, and he took up a homestead in Fond du Lac
eount}% where he settled and where he spent many years of his life. His

1606 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

wife was a native daughter of the county, whose parents were prom-
inently numbered among the very earliest pioneers to that Section of the
state. H. F. Steele was reared on his father's farm, until the age of
twelve, attending the public schools, and at that age he undertook pre-
paratory work at a school in Ripon, Wisconsin, from which he later
graduated. Judge Steele made possible his college career mainly through
his own exertions, his father being unable to finance his educational
affairs. He earned the money to carry on his studies by acting as a
telegraph operator in the general offices of the Northwestern Lines at
various points throughout Wisconsin, Iowa and the Upper Peninsula
of Michigan, and he saved most assiduously during those years for the
furtherance of his education. His literary course was followed by his
entering the law department of Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, and
4ie was graduated from there in 1905. In October of the same year he
came to Rhinelander and was soon thereafter appointed City Attorney
of that place, an office in which he continued until his appointment to
the post of county judge made his resignation incumbent upon him.

Judge Steele was married in 1906 to Miss May Gordinier, of Wau-
paca, Wisconsin, a daughter of C. S. Gordinier. One child shares their
home — Charles Steele.

Judge Steele is president of the Rhinelander Library Board, and is
a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Rev. WiLbiAM W. Perry. The year 1913 marks the centennial anni-
versary of the winning of the historic naval victory on Lake Erie by
Commodore Perry, in connection with the War of 1812, and he whose
name initiates this paragraph can not but take especial interest in the
celebration of that important event in American history, by reason of
the fact that he is probably of the line from which descended the great
commander of the American naval forces in the memorable conflict
mentioned. Mr. Perry is a native son of Wisconsin, is a man of high
intellectual attainments, has labored long and with all of consecrated
zeal as a clergyman of the Presbyterian church, is one of the most dis-
tinguished figures in the Wisconsin contingent of the time-honored
Masonic fraternity, and is the present associate pastor of the Berean
Presbyterian church in his native city. A man of most gracious per-
sonality, he is widely known through his services as a clergyman and
his conspicuous identification with Masonic affairs, and it may be con-
sistently said that his circle of friends is coincident with that of his
acquaintances. He is the scion of one of the honored pioneer families
of Wisconsin, and, as already intimated, bears a n^me that has been
significantly distinguished in the history of the nation.

Rev. William Watson Perry was born in the city of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, on the 28th of July, 1853, and is a son of James and Ellen
(Smith) Perry, the former of whom was born in Manchester Decern-

^r^oCUji^.i^ , -^v2^:^feV7G . C^i^t^u^

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1607

ber 23, 1804, and the latter in Burnley, Lancashire, England, on the
22nd of April, 1813. James Perry came to Wisconsin in the year 1848,
the year that marked the admission of the state to the Union, and he
became associated with the pioneer lumbering firm of Benjamin Bag-
nell & Company, in Milwaukee, in which city he continued to main-
tain his home until 1855, at which time on accomit of ill health he
removed to a farm midway between North Prairie and Eagle, Wau-
kesha county. His death occurred on the 30th day of November, 1864,
at that place. He united with the Republican party at the time of
its organization and only a short time prior to his death he cast his
vote in support of the party's presidential candidate, Abraham Lin-
coln, on the occasion of Mr. Lincoln's second nomination. Mrs. Perry
survived her honored husband by more than a score of years and was
summoned to her last home at North Prairie, in Waukesha county,
Wisconsin, on the 19th day of January, 1885. She was one of the ven-
erable pioneer women of Wisconsin at the time of her death, and her
memory is revered by all who came within the compass of h.er gentle
and gracious influence.

In the district schools of Waukesha county, Wisconsin, William W.
Perry gained his rudimentary education, and this Avas supplemented
by a course in the Ohio State College, near the city of Columbus, in
which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1875.
In that year Mr. Perry was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian
church, the ceremony of ordination having taken place and been
affirmed in the city of La Crosse, Wisconsin. The major part of his
work in the ministry has been in his native state, and he has held
various pastoral charges, including several of important order, the
while he has long been known as a specially strong pulpit orator and
as a man whose every utterance bears the mai'k of earnest conviction
and the utmost sincerity. He has been successful in his pastoral work
in each of his charges, has gained and retained the affectionate regard
of those to whom he has thus ministered, and has consecrated his full
powers to the aiding and uplifting of his fellow men and furthering
the work of the church militant. He has maintained his home in Mil-
waukee, his native city, since 1898, and held the pastoral charge of
Westminster Mission, at 3095 North Pierce Place, for six years. He
is now associate pastor of Berean Presbyterian church, on the South
Side of Milwaukee.

Mr. Perry has been a deep and appreciative student of the history
and teachings of the Masonic fraternity, and has long been a promi-
nent figure in its val'ious bodies. He received the Honorary thirty-
third degree, in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in Boston, Mass.,
September 20th, 1904, and was crowned an active member of the
Supreme Council of Northern Jurisdiction September 23rd, 1909.

On the 24th of July, 1876, ]\Ir. Perrv was raised to the .sublime

1608 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

degree of Master Mason, in Lake Lodge, No. 1S9, Free & Accepted
Masons, in Milwaukee, and later he received the capitular degrees in
Waukesha Chapter, No. 37, Royal Arch Masons, at Waukesha, this
state, where he also received the cryptic degrees, in Waukesha Coun-
cil, Royal and Select Masters. At Reedsburg, this state, he completed
the circle of the York Rite, by receiving the chivalric degrees in St.
John Commandery, No. 21, Knights Templar. He affiliated with Madi-
son Lodge, No. 5, Madison Chapter, No. 4, and Robert Macoy Com-
mandery. In 1889 Mr. Perry received the degrees of the various
bodies of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, up to and including the
thirty-second degree, and he was thus crowned a Sublime Prince of
the Royal Secret in Wisconsin Sovereign Consistory, A. A. S. R. His
present ancient-craft affiliation is with Damascus Lodge, No. 290, in
Milwaukee, and here he is also affiliated with Tripoli Temple of the
Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He has been
most zealous and active in every Masonic body with which he has been
or now is affiliated, and he has served with distinction in many official
posts of high order. He has been Worshipful Master of the Blue
Lodge fourteen years, High Priest of the Chapter, Thrice Illustrious
Master of the Council, and Eminent Commander of the Commandery,
in which bodies he has passed the other official chairs, and he has held
preferment in the Scottish Rite bodies also. At the time when New-
.ton M. Littlejohn was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free &
Accepted Masons, Wisconsin, Mr. Perry held the position of Senior
Deacon, later he served as Senior Grand Warden. In 1894 he was
made Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, and at the next
annual assembly of the body he was chosen Most Worshipful Grand
Master. He has been for many years the representative of the grand
lodge of Minnesota near the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin. In 1898 Mr.
Perry was elected most Illustrious Grand Master of the Grand Coun-
cil Royal & Select Masters, and his term in this office expired in 1900.
In September, 1900, Mr. Perry was appointed Secretary of the Masonic
Grand Bodies in Wisconsin, with the exception of the Consistory, A.
A. S. R., to succeed the late John W. Laflin, who died August 30, 1900,
and in that responsible and exacting office he has since continued the
able and honored incumbent, its duties demanding the major part of
his time and attention. He has offices in the Masonic Building in
Milwaukee, and he is earnest and indefatigable in the administration
of his official affairs, which he handles with marked discrimination
and to the entire satisfaction of his Masonic brethren. In politics he
is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Repub-
lican party has stood sponsor in a basic way, and he is loyal, progres-
sive and public-spirited in his civic attitude at all times.

On the 19th of August, 1879, Mr. Perry was married to Miss
Emma Goodwin La Barre, a daughter of Darius W. and Ann (Stark)

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1609

La Barre, who were at that time residents of Mukwonago, Waukesha
county, Wisconsin. Mrs. Perry was born in Ithaca, New York, and
reared in Mulnvonago, Wisconsin, where her parents still reside. Mr.
and Mrs. Perry have five children, namelj' : Jessie Ellen, now Mrs.
Thomas Scott, of Milwaukee ; Ralph Emerson, of Milwaukee ; asso-
ciated with the North Western Life Insurance Company; Paye M.,
the wife of H. R. Ricker, of Milwaukee ; Helen M., now Mrs. W. L.
Strickler, of Meridian, Mississippi ; and Ruth J., at home with her
parents.

Charles W. Folds. One of the native sons of Wisconsin who has
become distinctly a man of aifairs and a broad-gauged, liberal and
public-spirited citizen of Chicago, the great western metropolis, is Mr.
Folds, who is there resident partner of the stanch and representative
firm of Hathaway, Smith, Folds & Company, bankers and brokers of
commercial paper. The firm is one of the important concerns in the
field of enterprise and its Chicago offices are located at 137 South La-
Salle street. In according in this volume merited recognition to 'Mr.
Folds, as a representative of Wisconsin, it is not necessary to enter into
details concerning his large business activities in Chicago, but a brief
record of his career will prove of enduring interest to the people of the
state in which he was born and reared and in which he laid the substan-
tial foundation for his large and definite success as a business man.

Charles Weston Folds was born in the city of Oshkosh, judicial cen-
ter of Winnebago county, Wisconsin, and the date of his nativity was
August 23, 1870. He is a son of William B. and Mary D. (Jenkins)
Folds, the former of whom was born in Dublin, Ireland, on the 6th of
September, 1832, and the latter of whom was born at Bangor, IMaine,
in 1844, their marriage having been solemnized at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Of the four children. Charlotte Elizabeth is the eldest and is living;
George R. and Charles W. were twins, the former living in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; William Lawrence, the youngest, died July 31, 1900.

William B. Folds was afi'orded excellent educational advantages in
his native city, where he learned the printer's trade in the office of his
father, who was a representative publisher in the city of Dublin and
who had the distinction of introducing the first printing press of the
modern type in Ireland. William B. Folds was about sixteen years of
age Avhen he severed the ties that bound him to home and native land and
set forth to seek his fortunes in ^^merica. He emigrated from Ireland
in 1847, made the voyage on a sailing vessel, and landed in the port of
New York city. He made his way westward via Erie Canal and the
lakes to Racine, Wisconsin, and settled finally on the shores of beautiful
Lake Geneva, in Walworth county, Wisconsin. After there devoting
his attention to agricultural pursuits for a brief inteiwal he again
identified himself with urban business activities. He assumed the posi-

1610 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

tioii of reporter and compositor in the office of the ^lilwaukee Sentinel,
and he proved an effective and popular representative of American
journalism. Later he entered the employ of McKey Brothers, of Janes-
ville, this state, where the firm had its headquarters, besides which it
conducted also dry-goods stores in Madison and Oshkosh. Mr. Folds
proved an alert and capable factor in connection with this mercantile
enterprise and became a member of the firm. Finally he purchased the
business in Oshkosh and retired from partnership. He continued as
one of the honored and representative merchants of Oshkosh until 1874,
and in 1876 he removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he conducted a
successful enterprise as a retail dealer in carpets for a number of years,
within which he became the owner of a large and well equipped store.
In 1892 he retired from active business, and since that time he has in-
dulged himself in extensive travel, both abroad and in the Ignited States.
He is a man of strong and noble character, has achieved independence
and definite prosperity through his own ability and efforts, and com-
mands a secure place in the confidence and esteem of all who know him.
He is a stanch Republican and both he and his wife are zealous communi-
cants of the Protestant Episcopal church. They now maintain their
home in the city of Evanston, one of the most beautiful suburbs of
Chicago.

Captain James Jenkins, maternal grandfather of him whose name
initiates this review, was born at Falmouth, Barnstable county, Massa-
chusetts, and was a scion of one of the sterling colonial families of the
old Baj' state, representative of the name having been valiant soldiers
of the Continental line in the war of the Revolution. In his youth he
followed a seafaring life and rose to the position of captain in com-
mand of a vessel. Later he was engaged in the lumber business at
Bangor, Maine, and in the early '50s he came to Wisconsin and estab-
lished his residence in Oshkosh. He engaged with the Bradley interests
of Milwaukee and became one of the prominent and influential repre-
sentatives of the lumber industry in this state. He was one of the first
mayors of Oshkosh and was a prominent and honored resident of that
city at the time of his death, in 1886.

Charles W. Folds was about six years of age at the time of the family
removal from Oshkosh to Minneapolis, IMinuesota, and in the latter city
he continued to attend the public schools until he had completed the
curriculum of the high school. Thereafter he entered the University of
Minnesota, and in 1889, at the age of nineteen years, he obtained a cleri
cal position in the Northwestern National Bank of ^Minneapolis. Through
energy and effective service he won promotion through the various de-
partments and finally became cashier of the institution. His entire
active career has been one of close and successful identification with
financial affairs of broad scope, and his executive and administrative
powers have been matured through his practical experience. In 1899

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1611

Mr. Folds removed to the city of Chicago, where he associated himself
with the firm of Charles Hathaway & Company, and here he found ex-
cellent opportunities for advancement and success in his chosen field of
endeavor. In 1905 he became a member of the firm, under the title of
Hathaway, Smith, Folds & Company, and he has gained secure prestige
as one of the discriminating, reliable and representative financiers of
Chicago.

Mr. Folds is essentially progressive and liberal as a citizen, is a
stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and both he and
his wife are zealous communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church
in which he is a member of the vestry of St. James parish, Chicago.
He is chairman of the finance committee of the board of trustees of
the endowment fund of the Episcopal diocese of Chicago, and is other-
wise influential in religious, educational and charitable work. He is a
member of the Church Club of Chicago, of which he is a director, and
of which he was chosen president in 1911 ; is chairman of Finance
Committee United Charities of Chicago; is a member of the board of
trustees of the Chicago Home for Boys ; is a member of the commission
on young men and boys of foreign parentage, an adjunct of the Chicago
Young Men's Christian Association, in which he is a member of the advis-
ory board of managers, besides being trustee of the Immigrants ' Protect-
ive League of Chicago, and vice-chairman of the executive committee of
the Chicago chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Folds is a direct-
or of the First National Bank of Lake Forest, Illinois; a director and
member of finance committee of the Emerson-Brantingham Company,
of Rockford, Illinois ; a director and member of the executive committee
of the Calumet Insurance Company, of Chicago ; a member of the finance
committee of the Chicago Association of Commerce ; is secretary of the
North Central Improvement Association of Chicago ; and a member of
the executive board of the Religious Education Association in his home
city. Mr. Folds is treasurer of the Wisconsin Society of Chicago, where
he is likewise identified with the Minnesota Society, the Bankers' Club,
the Chicago Club, the Mid-Day Club, the University Club, and the Union
League Club. He holds membership also in the Union League Club of
New Y^'ork City and in the Chamber of Commerce of the national metrop-
polis. He is a member of the Glenview Golf Club, at Golf, Illinois ; the
Onwentsia Golf Club, of Lake Forest, that state; the Wausaukee Club,
of Athelstane, Wisconsin ; the Saganois Club (shooting) of Browning,
Illinois ; the Minneapolis Club, at Minneapolis, jMinnesota ; and is vice-
president of the Chicago chapter of the Sons of the American Revolu-
tion. The foregoing statements indicate the multiplicity of the public,
civic, business and social demands placed upon Mr. Folds and also de-
note his prominence and popularity in connection with diversified in-
terests.

On the 24th of Mav, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Folds

1612 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

to Miss Florence Symonds, daughter of the late Henry R. Syniouds,
who was long a prominent and honored factor in connection with bank-
ing operations in Chicago, where he was vice-president of the First
National Bank at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Folds have four
children^Weston Symonds, Elizabeth, Florence and George.

Byron Towne Gitford. Among Wisconsin men who are prominent
in Chicago business should be mentioned Byron T. Giflford, manager
of the General Engineering Department of the American District
Steam Company, with offices in the First National Bank Building.
Mr. Gifford's family has been in Wisconsin for over sixty years, and
identified with the state as lawyers, farmers, in business and public
affair's.

Byron Towne Gifford was born at the little station known as
Gifford in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, December 16, 1879, a son of
George Pardon, Jr., and Carrie Agnes (Towne) Gifford. The paternal
grandparents were George Pardon, Sr., and Eliza Anna Whittemore
Gifford, both of whom were natives of Massachusetts. Grandfather
Gifford was a lawyer and publisher, and first located in Milwaukee,
after his removal to the west, and for a number of years w^as engaged
in buying land in Waukesha county. He gave to the old Milwaukee
and Prairie du Chien Railroad Company, now the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul R. R., the land on which was built the railroad station of
Gifford, which took its name from the donor of the land. Dui'ing the
Civil war Grandfather Gifford did much to promote the union cause
and was provost marshal of his district. In politics he Avas a Whig
and subsequently a Republican, and his church was the Episcopal.
George Pardon Gifford, Jr., the father was born at Cambridgeport,
Massachusetts, March 20, 1848. His wife was born at Farmington,
Vermont, August 12, 1853. Their marriage occurred at Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin, January 1, 1874, and of their two children, the other is
Lovice W. George Pardon Gifford, Jr., came west to Wisconsin with
his father in 1852, and received his education in the schools of Mil-
waukee. When the war came on, though he was a small boj' he en-
listed in the Fourth Wisconsin Regiment of Infantry under IMajor
McArthur, and was a drummer boy of the regiment until it was called
into service. His father then forbade him to continue as a soldier,
and he had to forego his ambition for a military career. His first
regular work was in the service of the well known Milwaukee packer,
John Plankinton. The firm was known as Plankinton & Armour,
and Mr. Gifford subsequently became identified with the Armour
Packing Company at Chicago. He had the distinction of being the
first traveling salesman for that now vast packing corporation, travel-
ing out of Chicago, and selling the goods of Armour & Company, over
a territory extending from Maine to Denver, Colorado, and from New

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1618

Orleans to Winnipeg, Canada. Later he was appointed to the task
of opening branch houses for the Ai-mour people in Michigan and
Wisconsin. After remaining with the company for more than twenty
years he left and engaged in the hotel business at Gifford until 1905,
in which year he bought the Avenue Hotel at Madison. This is one
of the leading hotels of the Capital city, and he has continued a suc-
cessful landlord in that hostelry up to the present time. In politics
he is a Republican.

Byron T. Gifford was educated in the common schools of Waukesha
county, attended the Oconomowoc high school, and was graduated
from the University of Wisconsin in the class of 1901. During the next
two years he was with his father in the hotel business, but then moved
to a larger field in Chicago, where he became a contracting engineer
with the firm of W. H. Schott. In 1907 he engaged in the engineering
business under the name of Central Station Engineering Company, of
Avhich concern he was vice president. In 1912 the business was con-
solidated with the Americail District Steam Company of New York,
under the name of the American District Steam Company of Chicago.
Since that time Mr. Gifford has been manager of the General Engi-
neering Department.

Mr. Gifford is one of the well known engineers of the middle west.
He has membership in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
the American Society of Heating & Ventilating Engineers, and has
numerous social and fraternal connections. He belongs to the Beta
Pheta Pi College Fraternity, the Wisconsin Society of Chicago, Clinton
Lodge, No. 371, A. F. & A. M., at Sinkart, Indiana, and Fairview
Chapter, No. 161, R. A. M., of Chicago. In politics Mr. Gifford is a
Republican.

On December 12, 1906, he married Miss Anna Louise Rothrock,
who w^as born in Adams county, Ohio.

A. E. Weesner. The largest and oldest insurance agency in Oneida
county is the Barnes-Weesner Agency, insurance, real estate and loans,
Avith offices in Rhinelander. The business is chiefly in insurance along
the lines of fire, liability, life, plate glass, etc. The president of the
company, which is incorporated, is Mi\ A. E. Weesner, who has back
of him more than twenty years of continuous and successful experience
in insurance. The vice president of the concern is Hon. John Barnes,
now a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Charles B. Peterson is
secretary and treasurer of the company.

Mr. A. E. Weesner has been associated with this agency since 1900,
in which year he came to Rhinelander from Illinois, and bought an
interest in the old established agency. A. E. Weesner was born in
Wabash, Indiana, May 26, 1868, a son of Clark W. and Anna E. Weesner,
both of whom still live in Wabash, Indiana. Clark W. Weesner, who is

1614 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

an attorney by profession, is and has been for many years, one of the
most prominent men in Wabash county, has taken an active part in
political affairs, and is one of the citizens who are always looked to for
their influence and guidance in any local enterprise. In Wabash,
A. E. Weesner spent his youth, attended the public schools of the city,
and Avas a student in Eastman's business college at Poughkeepsie,
New York, where he was graduated in 1883 at the age of fifteen. After
that he returned to Wabash, and soon became interested in insurance,
and with the exception of about twenty-seven months, spent in Chicago
in the employ of the Swift Packing Company, has been continuously
in insurance lines since 1890.

Mr. Weesner is by no means a mere insurance broker. He is a
business builder, and one of the most energetic factors in local business
circles of Rhinelander. He is vice president of the Edmonds Land
Company of Rhinelander, a company which owns large timber hold-
ings throughout the state of Oregon. He is also a director in the First
National Bank of Rhinelander.

Fraternally Mr. Weesner has taken thirty-two degrees of Scottish
Rite Masonry, and is a member of the Mystic Shrine, and his social
relations also include membership in the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. He is a director in the Rhinelander Building & Loan
Association. Mr. Weesner married Mary L. Wiley.

Albert H. Schram. With the patience and determination of his
German forbears, Albert H. Schram, of Merrill, Wisconsin, has steadily
worked his way upward until today he is one of the leading business
men of Merrill and one of her most highly respected citizens. He began
life with the knowledge of a trade but no capital and his success is due
to his unaided efforts. The combination of a fine business ability with
thrift and integrity have brought him prosperity and his strong char-
acter has won him many friends, not only in Merrill but elsewhere.

Albert H. Schram was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 26th of
August, 1854, the son of Frederick and Adelaide (Moeller) Schram,
both of whom were born in Germany. Before coming to America, Fred-
erick Schram learned the blacksmith trade and after coming to this
country he continued to follow his trade. In 1856, when Albert was
two years old, his parents moved to Sheboygan Falls, Sheboygan county,
Wisconsin. Here Mr. Schram opened a country blacksmith shop and
also owned and operated a farm. He remained here until a few years
prior to his death when he moved to Plymouth, in the same county.
Here he made his home until his death in 1879. His widow is still living,
having reached the venerable age of eighty-eight.

Albert H. Schram was reared on his father's farm, near Sheboygan
Falls, and received his education in the country schools of this vicinity.
He then went to Baraboo, Wisconsin, where he learned the carriage and

c

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1615

wood-working trade. He remained in Baraboo for three years and then
removed to Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. He worked at his trade here
for a year and a half and then, in 1875, moved to Plymouth, in She-
boygan county, Wisconsin. Here he embarked in the carriage and
wagon making business, continuing in this business until 1888, when he
sold out and engaged in the furniture and undertaking business. He
conducted this business successfully until the fall of 1906 when he sold
out and for two years, or rather until the spring of 1908, he was not
engaged in business of any kind.

It was in the spring of 1908 that he came to Merrill, having capital
and a fine business reputation behind him. Here he built the brick
building, known as the Schram Building, one of the best business build-
ings in the city, located at 921 East Main street. Here he opened a
furniture store and an undertaking establishment, under the firm name
of A. H. Schram and Sons, with his three sons, Alfred, Clarence and Gus-
tave. In the fall of 1908 Mr. Schram bought out the furniture and un-
dertaking business of C. F. Hankwitz, at 120-122 Prospect street, West
Side, Merrill, and since that time he and his sons have successfully con-
ducted the two establishments. He is by far the leading furniture dealer
in Lincoln county, Wisconsin, and is one of the leading undertakers in
the county.

In religious matters, Mr. Schram and his family are members of the
Evangelical Lutheran church at Merrill. Mr. Schram since coming to
Merrill has had little time to spare from his business to give to public
affairs but while he was a resident of Plymouth, he was prominent in
public life. He was an alderman several times and also served several
times as mayor of the town. His interest in agricultural matters was
shown by his presidency of the Sheboygan County Agricultural Society,
which was commonly known as the Fair Association. He was for many
years chief of the Volunteer Fire Department of Plymouth.

Mr. Schram was married on the 20th of November, 1878, to Miss
Emma Bade, a daughter of Christopher and Wilhelmina (Borges) Bade,
of Plymouth, Wisconsin. Her parents were both natives of Germany
but they were real pioneers of Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, for they
came to this section of the state at a very early day. ]\Irs. Schram was
born and reared in Plymouth, where her father conducted a blacksmith
shop for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Schram have five children, as fol-
lows: Alfred, Clarence, Gustav, Nora and Clara.

George Record Peck. Though a native of New York State, George
Record Peck was brought to Wisconsin when a lad of six years, and
grew up and prepared for his 'pi'ofession in this state. For forty
years his brilliant career as a great railroad lawyer passed principally
in the states of Kansas and Illinois, but since the first of 1911 for
most of the time he has lived retired in his beautiful home at Oeonomo-

1616 HISTORY OF "WISCONSIN

woe, and thus his later years, as his earlier ones, have identified him
with the great state of which he considers himself one of the most
loyal citizens.

Until his retirement on January 1, 1911, from the office of gen-
eral counsel for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway System
there was no greater or more brilliant lawyer in the west, than George
Record Peek. Recently Mr. Peck celebrated his seventieth birthday,
and few men have received more hearty congratulation from eminent
people throughout the country than did Mr. Peck. The breadth of
his accomplishments and attainments may be inferred from some of
the statements made concerning him at the time. He was described
as "lawyer, orator, litterateur, student of literature, and botanist."
A Chicago paper said : "At three score years and ten he is still the
apostle of 'the kingdom of light,' and mental and spiritual decay is
as far from him today as in the seventies, when he was the finend of
every man in Kansas."

Though retired from his position as general counsel, Mr. Peck still
retains the honorary title of consultng counsel of the Chicago, Mil-
waukee & St. Paul Railroad. His successor in the office of general
counsel is the Hon. Burton Hanson, likewise one of the greatest prod-
ucts of the Wisconsin bar. Mr. Peck became general counsel of the
Milwaukee System, September 15, 1895. For fourteen years previously
he had served as general solicitor of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe Railroad Company. No lawyer in the country has taken more im-
portant part in railway litigation of the west than Mr. Peck. For
many years he stood at the head of the state bar in Kansas. He once
refused the offer of a United States senatorship, and was for years
one of the leading public men in Kansas. Besides the noteworthy
powers of a professional and public nature, Mr. Peck is a deep scholar,
has been honored with various degrees from universities and colleges,
and as a polished and eloquent orator on national and general sub-
jects has had few^ equals during the last generation.

George Record Peck was born near Cameron, Steuben county. New
York, May 15, 1843. His parents Joel M. and Amanda (Purdy) Peck,
moved out to a farm in Wisconsin when the son Avas six years old.
In a clearing in the wilderness, which the boy himself had assisted
in making, the family began life in what was then the new state of
Wisconsin and grew u^p amid surroundings of a pioneer character.
With only a common school education at the age of sixteen he be-
came a school teacher, and with his earnings helped to lift a mort-
gage from the old homestead. At the age of nineteen he enlisted for
service in the Union army, joining the First Heavy Artillery of Wis-
consin. Later he was transferred to the Thirty-First Wisconsin
Infantry, and with that command went with Sherman in the historic
march to the sea and in the operations through the Carolinas. He

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1617

was one of the many fine AVisconsin young men who conferred dis-
tinction upon the state's military record during the war and he
advanced from the ranks of private to the grade of captain, and when
he was mustered out of service he was Captain Peck. When he
returned to Wisconsin after the war his efforts were immediately
directed toward preparation for the law. Six years were spent in
Janesville as a law student, circuit court clerk, and practicing attorney.
From Wisconsin he went to Kansas, and from 1871 to 1874 had his
office at Independence. There he quickly attained recognition as a
young lawyer of unusual ability and in 1874 he received his first
important promotion when Pi-esident Grant appointed him United
States District Attorney of Kansas. The duties of this office caused
his removal to Topeka, the State Capital. It was while a resident of
Topeka, for nineteen years, that the name of George Record Peck
became a power in his profession and in public affairs. In 1887, the
University of Kansas conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. Within
a short time of his appointment as United States attorney, he was
directed to bring suit involving a title to nine hundred and sixty-nine
thousand acres of land. The promptness and ability with which he
brought this suit and other cases to a successful issue soon marked
him as one of the leaders of the western bar, and brought such induce-
ments for private practice that in 1879 he resigned his office. After
two years of independent practice the Atchison, Topeka and Santa
Fe Railroad Company elected him general solicitor, and from that
time until 1895 the large and growing system of railroad was devel-
oped under his legal counsel and direction.

In 1891 when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad secured
control of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, one of the stock-
holders of the latter sought to enjoin the sale on the ground that the
two roads were parallel and competing. The case was bitterly con-
tested in tlie circuit and supreme courts of the United States and Mr.
Peck's successful management not only resulted in giving an important
extension to the Santa Fe System, but also gave him a place among
the first railroad lawyers of the country. In December, 1903, when
the Atchison System went into the hands of a receiver and the prob-
lem of its reorganization was pressing upon the holders of its almost
worthless securities, the direction of the legal proceedings devolved
upon Mr. Peck. Within two years the mortgages had been foreclosed,
the property sold, a working plan of reorganization effected and the
great railroad system preserved unbroken. Probably not before or
since has there been accomplished so rapid an organization of a great
railroad property, and that the Santa Fe System at the present time
is one of the greatest in its mileage and facilities in America is to a
large degree due to the remarkable ability of Mr. Peck.

When his onerous duties in connection with the reorganization of

1618 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

the Santa Fe had been successfully fulfilled, Mr. Peck resigned his
office as general solicitor in September, 1895. However, the judge of
the United States Circuit Court of Topeka requested that he still con-
tinue to give the Atchison reorganization committee the benefit of
his counsel until all the details should be cleared up. On moving to
Chicago, Mr. Peck became general counsel of the Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul Railroad Company, and directed the legal department
of the system through its greatest era of extension and improvement,
until he turned over its heavy responsibilities to Mr. Burton Hanson
in 1911. During his active career in Chicago, Mr. Peck was head of
the law firm of Peck, Miller & Starr, his associate being John S. Miller
and Merritt Starr.

The influence of Mr. Peck in Kansas politics was a notable feature
of the political history of that state, and di;ring the last ten years of
his residence in Topeka, his leadership in the Republican party was
unquestioned. Upon the death of Senator Plumb in 1892, Governor
Humphrey offered the vacant seat in the United States Senate to Mr.
Peck, who declined. Both in Kansas and in Illinois he might have
attained eminence in politics, but has always declined public honors
which were not in line with his profession. It is as a great railroad
lawyer that the name of Mr. Peck has been most prominently known.
In the early months of 1893, during the days of Populism in Kansas,
and during the legislative deadlock in Governor Llewellyn's adminis-
tration, Mr. Peck was a strong conservative force, and, according to the
verdict of both parties, it was the force of his wisdom and will and fine
character which averted the threatened anarchy and bloodshed.

Mr. Peck was honored with the office of president of the American
Bar Association in 1905-06. One of his friends and associates in Kan-
sas recently said: "Mr. Peek has a rare, magnetic personality and
charm! He was larger in Kansas affairs than any other man in the
state. Every man on the Santa Fe System from a section hand to
the president, called him friend. Blacklisted firemen went to him to
intercede with the powers, and he always did it if their records were
clean of dishonesty. He staked friends in adversity with recklessness,
and he would be a far richer man today if he had not.''

Mr. Peek long since achieved a national reputation as a polished,
scholarly and eloquent orator, and his orations have been regarded as
master-pieces. His influence as a man of letters has been kindly and
stimulating, his written philosophy and experience of life has the
greater weight because it comes from one who has borne such heavy
responsibility and whose knowledge of what he writes has been so
broad and thorough. As an author his best known work is probably
"The Kingdom of Light." The characteristic sentence from that work
is the following: "The person who allows his mental and spiritual
nature to stagnate and decay does so, not for want of time, but for

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1619

want of inclination." And further he says: "There is no vocation,
absolutely none, that cuts off entirely the opportunities for intellectual
development. The Kingdom of Light is an especially delightful home
for him whose purse is not of sufficient weight to provide a home else-
where and a humble cottage in the Kingdom can be made to shine
with a brightness above palace walls."

These later years of Mr. Peck are devoted to a practical test of his
beautiful philosophy. At his home at Oconomowoc he devotes his
time to literature and to his favorite recreation of gardening and
botanizing, and his gardens contain some of the rarest and most
beautiful flowers, shrubs and trees to be found on any private estate
in Wisconsin.

Among the many notable addresses Avhich have brought him high
standing as an orator, may be mentioned the following : That on
General Geoi'ge H. Thomas delivered before the Loyal Legion of the
United States at Indianapolis : Response on Abraham Lincoln at the
banquet of the Marquette Club, Chicago; address on the Puritans
before the Ethical Society of Milwaukee ; oration on the Worth of a
Sentiment, before the Washington & Jefi'erson Societies of the Uni-
versity of Virginia : the Ethical Basis of American Patriotism, before
the gradiTating class of Union College, New York; oration on the
Unveiling of the Logan Statue on the Lake Front, Chicago; and that
on Washington before the students of the University of Chicago. A
mere mention of such titles as above indicates the scope of Mr. Peck's
mentality. Since the honor given him by the University of Kansas
in 1887, Mr. Peck was awarded the degree of LL. D. by Union College
of New York in 1896, a similar degree from Bethany College of Kansas,
in 1902, Milton College, who gave him the degree of A. M., from
Northwestern University he received the degree of LL. D., and he has
been similiarly awarded by many other institutions.

Mr. Peck's married life covered a harmonious and happy period
of thirty years. His wife, whom he married in 1866, was IMiss Arabella
Burdick. They were married while Mr. Peck was still struggling for
recognition as a lawyer at Janesville, Wisconsin. Mrs. Peck died
March 5, 1896, and as his three married daughters live in other cities,
and his son is usually away from Chicago, Mr. Peek spends much of
his time alone, except for the intimate relations which he has estab-
lished with friends and with the great life of the outdoors and with
literature. His children are: Mary E., wife of A. R. Thompson, of
Washington ; Isabel, wife of G. N. Wilson, of Philadelphia ; Charles
B., now of New York City, and Ethel, wife of George P. Earling. of
Milwaukee, who is a son of Albert J. Earling, president of Chicago.
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad.

Mr. Peck served as government delegate to the Universal Congress
of Lawvers and Jurists at St. Louis in 1904. His clubs are the Chicago.

1620 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

the University, the Hamilton, the Marquette, the ClifE-Dwellers, the
Caxton, the Wayfarers and many others.

Many pages might be filled with charming anecdotes told of Mr,
Peck in his professional and social relations. His old-time friend and
successor as general counsel of the Milwaukee System, Burton Hanson
recently described how George Hill once got the better of Mr. Peck.
"George Hill," explained Mr. Hanson, "is a negro boy, now a con-
fidential secretary, but then an office boy who had studied stenography
in spare moments. One afternoon ]\Ir. Peck wanted to dictate some
letters and the office force had gone. I suggested Hill, knowing of
his shorthand studies. 'How fast can you take dictations?' asked Mr.
Peck skeptically. 'I can take sixty words a minute,' returned Hill
stolidly. 'That's as fast as any one can talk — and talk sense.' Mr.
Peck began dictating at once," concluded Mr. Hanson.

Another associate recalled a meeting between Mr. Peck and Henry
Waterson at Washington, when the conversation was directed about
Nebraska's brilliant senator, John M. Thurston. "George," said Col.
Waterson, "I think you and Thurston and myself are the greatest
orators in the country.'' "Why drag in Thurston?" queried Mr.
Peck, "He isn't here."

In conclusion it may be said that seldom does a career reach the
span of three score and ten, including higher honors in the profession
of law, more vitally important accomplishments in that field, with
greater dignity and esteem, and with a more satisfying fulness of
honors and work well performed than has been true in the case of
George Record Peck.

Leo Gensmann. As a pioneer in the milling industry in the north-
ern section of the state of Wisconsin, Leo Gensmann of Merrill, Wis-
consin, has won an enviable reputation as a business man. He is a
young man with the energy and enthusiasm that makes youth so power-
ful factor in the world of today, but he has had several years of val-
uable experience, and has also the advantage of having been trained for
his position in the business world by his father one of the most success-
ful business men in the Wisconsin Valley.

Leo Gensmann was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, on the 7th day of
February, 1879, the son of Jacob and Amelia (Wilde) Gensmann. The
former is one of the prominent men in lumber circles in the state of
Wisconsin, having been engaged in lumbering in the Wisconsin valley
for many years. Leo Gensmann was reared in Wausau and attended
both the grammar and high schools of that city. He later entered th©
Wausau Business College where he took a commercial course.

When Mr. Gensmann came to Merrill he became connected with the
Lincoln Milling and Elevator Company, as secretary and treasurer.
The other officers of this company are, Paul Gilbert, president, and

HISTOEY OF WISCONSIN 1621

Jacob Gensmann, vice-president. The Lincoln Milling and Elevator
Company is an incorporated company, the capital stock being $35,000.
The mill which was erected in 1908 was, and still is, the only flour mill
in Lincoln county. They also own a large grain elevator which has a
capacity of 25,000 bushels. The company manufactures flour, and by-
products of flour and also ground corn and oat food stuffs. The famous
Court House Brand of flour is a product of this mill and buckwheat
and rye flour is also manufactured here. Ten or twelve men are em-
ployed and the company is a thriving and prosperous concern.

Mr. Gensmann was married in 1907, the 28th of November, to Miss
Emma Perske, a daughter of Carl and Bertha Perske, of Wausau, Wis-
consin. They have one son, Ferdinand.

The Thomas Desmond Family. The residence of the Desmond
family in Wilwaukee covers a period of seventy years, beginning
during the territorial era of the state. The first generation was char-
acterized by the labors and accomplishments of a pioneer settler. The
head of the next generation, the late Thomas Desmond, was for nearly
half a century well known in business and educational circles in Mil-
waukee, while the sons of Thomas Desmond have, as worthy repre-
sentatives of an honored father and grandfather, borne distinctive
parts in life in the law, education, in authorship, in various lines of
business enterprise, and in civic and social work. The Desmond family
is of Norman-Irish ancestry. A large province in southern Ireland
was once known as "Desmond." and the "Earls of Desmond" played
an important part in Anglo-Irish history.

The late Thomas Desmond was born in 1833 near Little Falls,
New York, where his father had settled about one hundred years ago.
In August, 1842, when the history of Wisconsin as a territory had yet
six years to run, Humphrey Desmond, father of Thomas Desmond,
came west and settled upon several hundred acres of land about twenty
miles north of Milwaukee near the present city of Cedarburg. With
him were three sons and three daughters.

Thomas Desmond, the youngest son, was then nine years old. He
attended district schools, and at the age of seventeen began to vary
the duties of farm life by teaching during the winter in near-by schools.
Years of self-education and a natural leaning towards educational work
led later to his identification with the Milwaukee public schools in ad-
ministrative capacities. From 1866 to 1880 he was secretary of the
school board. All his nine children completed high school courses in
Milwaukee, finishing in normal schools or the State University. During
the last twenty years of his life Mr. Desmond was state manager for
one of the large eastern life insurance companies. At the time of his
death in May, 1901, many tributes to his life and character were paid
by prominent men of the city and state. This passage from a letter

Vol. VI— 16

1622 HISTORY OP WISCONSIN

published in one of the Milwaukee dailies fairly summarizes the esteem
in which he was held: "I have known Thomas Desmond since my
boyhood, and a more consistent, conscientious, honorable man I have
yet to meet. He was courteous, kind and affable. The dominant trait in
his character was justice."

Thomas Desmond was survived by his widow, whose maiden name
was Bowe, and who had been a resident of Milwaukee since 1854, and
was in all respects the ideal of a true wife and helpmate. Their
oldest daughter, Dora A. Desmond, who was for many years identified
with educational and charitable work in Milwaukee, died in 1909.
Mary Desmond, the second daughter, Avas also a teacher in the Mil-
waukee schools for a number of years, but is now engaged in literary
work and is active in several woman's organizations of the city. She,
with her sisters Julia and Theresa Desmond, reside with their mother at
the family home, 810 Van Buren Street, Milwaukee.

Humphrey J. Desmond, the oldest son of Thomas Desmond and who
is regarded by his associates as possessing one of the finest minds in
the Wisconsin bar, entered the legal profession after his graduation
from the University of Wisconsin. He was a member of the Milwaukee
school board from 1883 to 1890, and of the Wisconsin legislature during
1891-92. As a member of the school board he is credited with initiating
the industrial training movement in the schools of Milwaukee, and
as a member of the legislature he was the author of several laws that
are now on the statute books. Some twenty years ago he became owner
of the Catholic Citizen, a Avidely circulated Aveekly paper, and this led
to his acquiring similar publications at Washington, D. C, Memphis,
Tennessee, and St. Paul, Minnesota. Humphrey J. Desmond is author
of a number of successful books, including several volumes of essays
published by A. C. MeClurg & Company of Chicago. His "The Church
and The Law," a legal text book, called forth special praise from Chief
Justice Cassoday of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He is also the
author of a number of historic monographs, which have had a large
sale. He was a frequent contributor to the North American Review,
the Forum, The Century, and other magazines, and a special contrib-
utor to the "Library of the World's Best Literature" and the Catholic
Encyclopedia. His home at 612 Newberry Boulevard, adjoining Lake
Park, contains one of the best selected private libraries in Milwaukee.

William J. Desmond, second in age of the sons of Thomas Desmond,
was for many years engaged in educational work as principal of public
schools in Milwaukee, as a writer for educational and other periodicals,
and as a conductor of Teachers' Institutes in Wisconsin. He later
became interested in real estate and business enterprises, platting and
building up a number of subdivisions in Milwaukee, and dealing ex-
tensively in farming and timber lands in Wisconsin and other states.
He has taken an active interest in civic matters, having been a member

HISTORY OP WISCONSIN 1623

of the Charter Convention of Milwaukee, and an incorporator of the
City Club. He was especially identified with the inception and promo-
tion of the Non-Partisan and the Home Rule laws for cities, in which
movement Milwaukee has led the way.

Frank B. Desmond, the third son, is officially connected with the
First National Bank of Milwaukee. He is widely acquainted in
business circles, and is a director in several corporations. Thomas A.
Desmond, fourth among the sons, has built up a very substantial
educational publishing business of national scope. He is also vice
president of the Citizen Company, which publishes a number of news-
papers in various parts of the United States.

Joseph G. Desmond, the youngest of the sons of the late Thomas
Desmond, has specialized in advertising, and has charge of the adver-
tising department of the several publications controlled by the Citizen
Company. He is also secretary of the latter corporation.

Bert A. Jolivette. Among the public officials whose signal services
in the discharge of their duties are making La Crosse one of the best
governed of Wisconsin counties, more than passing mention should
be made of Bert A. Jolivette, county clerk. By birth, inclination and
training a son of Wisconsin, he has spent his life within the limits of
the state, where, although he is still a young man, his connection with
multiform interests has made his name well known. Mr. Jolivette
was born February 5, 1882, in La Crosse county, Wisconsin, and is a
son of Peter and Sarah A. (Kelly) Jolivette, the former a native of
Wisconsin and the latter of Illinois.

Mr. Jolivette 's paternal ancestors came from Normandy, France,
while those on the maternal side are traced back to Ireland. His grand-
father, Moses Jolivette, came from near Montreal, Canada, and settled
in La Crosse county, Wisconsin, near the town of Campbell, some time
during the early forties. One of the earliest settlers of that section,
he homesteaded and purchased a large tract of land, which extended in
one direction to the Mississippi river. Settlers were scarce, but few
houses were to be found, the nearest market was at Dubuque, which was
reached by boating down the river and the Winnebago and Chippewa
Indians were numerous and frequently very troublesome. Moses Joli-
vette and his wife were the parents of nine children, of whom five are
still alive. Of this family, Peter was the fifth in order of birth. He
was born May 29, 1854, in La Crosse county, Wisconsin, and until he
was fourteen years of age he attended the primitive district schools.
He then began to give his father all of his time and so continued until
he was nineteen years of age, at which time he embarked upon a career
of his own. At first he was engaged in logging and working in the lum-
ber camps, but in the meanwhile interested himself also in farming, and
before he was twenty-five years of age was a land owner. In 1909, at

1624 HISTOKY OF WISCONSIN

the time of his deatli, he jDOssessed 220 acres, in addition to which he
had also been the owner of one-half section of Texas land, which, how-
ever, he had disposed of some time before. Reared to the hard work
of the farm, he was an industrious, energetic man all of his life, fre-
quently working from 3 :30 A. M., until 9 P. M. He was known among
his associates and those with whom he held any transactions as a man
in whom implicit confidence could be placed. A Democrat in politics,
he served as president of the school board of the township in which he
resided for sixteen years, and was not only a friend of the cause of edu-
cation all his life, but also was a progressive man in every walk of life.
Mr. Jolivette married Sarah A. Kelly, who was born April 21, 1857, and
is still living, and they had a family of eight children, of whom seven
are still living : Bert A., Rally D. M., Nita S., Eva L., Edna E., Guy A.
and Lloyd P.

Bert A. Jolivette attended the district schools until he w^as fourteen
years of age, at which time he began working on his father's farm, and
continued to be associated "vvith him for ten years. In 1907, wishing to
further advance his education, he entered the University of Wisconsin,
but the death of his father, three and one-half years later, called him
home to take charge of the estate, of which he has continued executor
ever since. A Democrat in politics, he has ever been active in the ranks
of his party, and on November 5, 1912, was elected clerk of La Crosse
county, for a term of two years, an office in which he has shown eminent
qualifications. He has handled the business of the county in a manner
that is bound to win the approbation of the tax-payers and during his
administration a number of much needed reforms have been made.
Fraternally, Mr. Jolivette is connected with Black River Camp No. 507,
Modern Woodmen of America, in which he is now serving as honorable
adviser and also of the Red Men, Winneshiek Tribe.

On August 1, 1912, Mr. Jolivette was married to Miss VanNetta
McDonald, of Dane county, Wisconsin, a graduate of the DeForest
(Wisconsin) high school, class of 1906.

Henry J. Goddard. Among the Wisconsin families few have been
more conspicuous in public and business affairs nor borne the responsi-
bilities of citizenship with greater dignity and social service than has
the Goddard family during its residence in this state from pioneer times
down to the present. Mr. Henry J. Goddard, the present postmaster
of Chippewa Falls, was the pioneer druggist of that city, was a soldier
during the Civil war, and in many ways has been prominent during the
life of the state for the past half century.

Henry J. Goddard was born at Almond, Allegany county. New York,
on November 3, 1844, being the oldest and the only survivor of four
children born to Nathaniel and Lueinda (Peck) Goddard. The father,
a native of Massachusetts, died in 1875 at the age of eighty-four years.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1625

The mother was born at Saratoga Springs, New York, and died in 1880
at the age of eighty-three years. The father, who was a farmer and mer-
chant, was in business in Massachusetts, whence he removed to York,
Livingston county. New York, where he was a farmer, and in 1850 came
west and located in Eock county, "Wisconsin, where he was among the
pioneers. He located in Beloit, then a village of small proportion and
importance, and there engaged in the merchandising business until
his retirement. He was also honored with various distinctions in this
Wisconsin city, having held the office of city treasurer for several terms.
He was a deacon in the Baptist church and an active member of the
Republican party.

Henry J. Goddard was six years of age when the family moved west
to Wisconsin, and he was reared largely in pioneer surroundings. He
attained his early education in the common schools of Beloit, finishing
at the high school there, and subsequently pursuing a commercial
course in Bryant & Stratton Business College at Chicago. He liad
begun the drug business at Baraboo, this state, about the time the
Civil war came on. The war disturbed all his plans, and under the
impetus of patriotism he enlisted in "the Fourth Wisconsin Battery.
His father was too old for service, and inasmuch as another brother
was already in the army, the father requested that this son should
remain at home, which he did for a time. Then in 1864 he enlisted as
hospital steward in the regular United States army, and gave three
years of service. He was on duty at Fortress Monroe in Virginia, at
Hampton, Virginia, and Richmond, that state, also at Fredericksburg
until ordered to the surgeon general headquarters under General Otis,
spending the latter part of his service in compiling the medical and
surgical history of the war.

On his return to Baraboo, Wisconsin, he resumed the drug business
with his brother-in-law. Dr. B. F. Mills, and in October, 1874, became
one of the pioneer settlers in the new town of Chippewa Falls. There
he became the pioneer druggist and was actively connected with busi-
ness affairs up to September, 1899. He has for a number of years been
active in public life, and in March, 1900, President McKinley appointed
him postmaster at Chippewa Falls, and he was reappointed. May
17, 1904, by President Roosevelt, April 20, 1908, also by Mr. Roosevelt,
and April 17, 1912, by President Taft. In 1885 this district elected him
to the House of Representatives, and as a member of the legislature
he served as chairman of the railway committee. For twenty years
he has given his counsel and direction to the affairs of the school
board, of which he has been a member continuously for this period of
time. He also served as city treasurer for some time and he is president
of the Wisconsin Association of Postmasters.

Mr. Goddard has long taken an active part in Grand Army affairs of
this state. He has his local membership in the James Comford Post,

1626 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

No. 68, G. A. R., and has served as quartermaster and commander of
this post. He has also been chief of staff for the Grand Army in the
"Wisconsin Department. At the last state encampment held at Autigo,
he was presented with a beautiful jewel by the deputy commander,
Hiram Smith, and comrades of the Wisconsin Department. j\Ir. God-
dard was made a Mason in B. B. French Lodge, No, 15, A. F. & A. M.
at Washington, D. C, and from there demitted and joined the Chippewa
Falls Lodge, No. 176, A. F. & A. M. He is also affiliated with Chippewa
Falls Chapter, No. 46, R. A. M., and with Eau Claire Commandery,
No. 8, K. T. Subsequently he became a charter member of Tanered
Commandery, No. 27, at Chippewa FaUs. He has attained the thirty-
second degree of the Scottish Rite, and is a member of the Wisconsin
Consistory, and the Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine. In poUtics
he is an active Republican.

Mr. Goddard, on June 22, 1871, married Adele Grover, who was
born in Lima, Livingston county. New York, and whose death occurred
April S, 1900. The three children born of their union were : Fi^ank
Mills, who died in infancy ; Arthur G. ; and Jennie E., the wife of
John A. Brooks, and they are the parents of one daughter Mary Adelle
Brooks.

Professor L. D. Roberts. Since 1888 Professor Roberts has been
continuously county superintendent of schools in Shawano county, and
is one of the oldest, and probably the oldest in point of actual service
since with the ending of the present term he will have twenty-six
years six months to his credit in this capacity. He has made educa-
tion his life's work, and for nearly a half century has been closely
identified with school management. By virtue of his own ability, and
by his position, he is the leading man of his profession in Shawano,
and also one of the prominent educators of Wisconsin. Having the
spirit of service characterizing the modern teacher, and working con-
stantly for progressive measures, he has won a worthy place in his
life work and profession, and has many admiring friends among his
old pupils, all of whom regard his character and service as useful parts
of their own lives. Previous to his election as county superintendent
in 1888, Professor Roberts had been a teacher in high schools, spend-
ing two years in Stoughton, and eight- in Shawano. He was the first
principal of the Shawano high school, which was the pioneer school of
this rank to be established in Shawano county.

Mr. Roberts was born on a farm at Macomb, Illinois, May 15, 1844,
a son of Ira Norman and Margarita (Dailey) Roberts. Reared on his
father's farm, he attended district school, and later completed his
preparation for teaching by regular and post-graduate courses in study
at the old institution known as Albion Academy and Norman Institute,
from which he received the degree of Ph. B., upon graduation. Early

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1627

in his career he went to southeastern Kansas, where he took up land,
but as the climate did not agree with him he returned to Wisconsin
and soon afterward became principal of the Stoughton schools.

Professor Roberts, outside of his promotions and distinctions as an
educator, has for many years been noted for his ability in general
mathematics. Out of his long experience he has invented a very
ingenious calculating machine on which he now has two patents. This
machine computes percentage with readiness and absolute accuracy
for any number from one dollar to one hundred million, whether the
rate be one or ten places. The device in its general form is a multiply-
ing machine, but is especially designed for those who have charge of
making out tax-rolls. Through its use it is possible to calculate in
almost an instant the amount of taxes to be assessed on any piece of
property running out to ten decimals.

Professor Roberts is a member of several educational associations
among which are the following : The Wisconsin County Superintend-
ents ' Association, of which he has been twice elected president; the
State Teachers ' Association on the programs of which he has appeared
from time to time, and he- has also been an active member for many
years of the National Educational Association.

His educational activities have not prevented his affiliation with
local interests that tend for the uplift and general betterment of society.
As member of the Board of Directors of Shawano Public Library and
periodic president of the same, as a church trustee, as a member of the
Masonic fraternity, he has received the recognition that public senti-
ment invariably accords intelligent and progressively inclined citizen-
ship in civic affairs.

William King Coffin. Among the representative men of Eau
Claire mention should be made of William King Coffin, for he is not
only one of the prominent men in a business way, but also socially and
in affairs of general public interest. His business interests lie chiefly
along the lines of banking and lumbering, but he is always to be found
interested in any good business proposition. He is a modern and up-
to-date thinker and has as firm a grasp on his business affairs now as
he had twenty years ago, with the added advantage that those years
have given to him.

William King Coffin was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, on the -9th
of August, 1850. He was named for William King, the first governor
of Maine, for his grandfather, Nathaniel Coffin, and the governor were
Avarm personal friends. His father, William Coffin, was born in Maine
in 1822, a son of Nathaniel and Mary (Porter) Coffin. When William
Coffin was quite a little fellow his parents came west to Illinois, and
here he grew up, his youth being spent among the pioneer scenes of
that time. He received his education in Illinois College and Andover

1628 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Seminary. After his graduation lie became professor of mathematics
in Illinois College. In 1853 he gave up this profession and locating
in Batavia, Illinois, went into the banking business, and was thus
engaged until 1880, when he retired from active business. In politics
he was a Republican. His wife, Mary (Lockwood) Coffin, was born
in Illinois, and died in the year 1877. She was a daughter of Samuel
D. Lockwood, who was one of the first justices of the supreme court,
Abraham Lincoln having been a law student in his office. William
Coffin died in 1890, at the age of sixty-eight years. Seven children
were born to him and his wife, five of whom are now living.

WiUiam King Coffin was next to the eldest of his father's children,
and he grew up in the state of Illinois, where he received his education,
his college training being gained in Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois,
from which he was graduated in the class of 1871. It might be said that
he began the banking business when he was fourteen years old, for it is
a fact that as a boy he entered his father's bank and early learned the,
details and routine work of the institution, becoming cashier of the First
National Bank of Batavia, Illinois, before he was nineteen, his father
being president of that bank.

In 1871, when he was twenty-one years old, Mr. Coffin entered the
First National Bank of Chicago as a clerk, and he was with that con-
cern in the years 1871-2-3, the first being the year of the great fire, and
the last the year of the panic. In 1874 he was with a transportation
company running barges between Green Bay Points and Chicago in
the conveying of lumber, and this has been his sole digression from the
banking business since he commenced his financial career. In 1874 he
was employed in Batavia as cashier of the Coffin & Young Bank and he
made his first trip to Eau Claire in 1881, coming here to look over the
Pioneers Lumber Company. While his interest was taken by the possi-
bilities of the lumber business, Mr. Coffin decided that banking was his
forte and did not invest at the time. In the spring of 1882 Clark &
Ingram, bankers of Eau Claire, invited Mr. Coffin to come to the city and
associate himself with them in business. He accepted, and soon after
the bank was reorganized as the Eau Claire National Bank, Mr. Coffin
becoming its cashier, a position he held for many years and later be-
came president of the institution, in which important capacity he is yet
serving. He is also president of Eau Claire Savings Bank and vice-
president of the First National Bank of Fairchild, Wisconsin.

Since settling here Mr. Coffin has interested himself widely in other
lines, mainly in the lumber interests, a number of well known lumber
and timber concerns claiming a share of his notice.

Mr. Coffin has held a number of positions that have shown the respect

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1629

and esteem his associates in the business world have held for him, and
the warm personal popularity he enjoys. In 1903 he served as president
of the Wisconsin Bankers' Association, and he is president of the Eau
Claire Public Library. He is an enthusiast on all out of door sports,
and is president of the Eau Claire Automobile Club.

Being descended from one of the old pioneer families of the Mis-
sissippi Valley, his interest in all things pertaining to the history of the
valley is natural, and he is a life member of the Wisconsin State His-
torical Society, being one of its present curators. Mr. Coffin has always
taken a deep interest in religious and social questions and is a member
of the Congregational church and one of the directors of the Young
Men's Christian Association.

In politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party. He is a
thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias and
the Elks.

In October, 1872, Mr. Coffin married Miss Mary G. Burroughs, who
is a native of the state of Illinois. To them have been born two daugh-
ters, Mary E., who is the wife of B. G. Proctor, of Eau Claire, Wis-
consin; and Grace B., who married F. R. Bates, of Seattle, Washington,
and one son, Lester B. Coffin, who died in 1888.

William Irvine. The great lumber industry of Wisconsin during
the past thirty years has known no more conspicuous figure than
William Irvine, now and for many years a resident of Chippewa Falls.
Mr. Irvine was a former president of the Mississippi Valley Lumber-
men's Association, occupied a same position for two years in the
National Lumber Manufacturer's Association, and has had practically
every honor and distinction afforded by the great organization in the
lumber industry of this country.

William Irvine was born at Mount Carroll, Illinois, October 28,
1851. His father was John Irvine, who was born in Pennsylvania of
Scotch-Irish stock in 1790 and was old enough to give service to this
country in the war of 1812. The mother was of New England ancestry
and was a native of New York State. The father, for a number of
years, prior to 1858, had a saw-mill at Savanna, Illinois, and sawed
logs that were floated down the Mississippi River in that period. His
equipment for milling was a rotary and sash saw, an almost typical out-
fit for the times, but not one that would place his plant in serious com-
petition with the great lumber manufacturing centers. William Irvine
was about seven years old when his father abandoned this enterprise and
turned his attention to merchandising in Mount Carroll. The son Wil-
liam attended local schools until he was sixteen years of age, and then

1630 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

began work in 1867 for Captain George Winans, who was pilot for the
steamer Union, and engaged in towing lumber from Reed's Lauding to
St. Louis and other down river markets. William Irvine had position of
watchman on the Union and also on other boats engaged in towing lum-
ber for the Chippewa Falls mill. At the end of two years he was pro-
moted to a position of a clerk. After continuipg in that way until 1875
he took a place as lumber salesman for the Union Lumbering Company, a
concern which at that time owned the plant at Chippewa Falls, AViseon-
sin. It is a matter of interest that Mr. Irvine has had something to do
with the Chippewa Falls Mills or its product ever since he was sixteen
years of age. He first worked on the boats that towed the lumber to mar-
ket, then sold the lumber, and subsequently became manager of the busi-
ness. While acting as salesman he became familiar with grades and
manufacturing methods, as he was about the mill more or less dur-
ing that time. During the winters of 1870-71-72, while not employed on
the boats, he had worked as a scaler in the woods, thus acquiring a
knowledge of timber and logging. He remained with the Union Lumber-
ing Company and its successor until Mr. Weyerhaeuser and associ-
ates bought the Chippewa Falls mill in the spring of 1881. He then be-
came secretary of the Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company and in 1885
succeeded Mr. E. W. Culver as manager of the company. Mr. Irvine
remained as active manager of the Chippewa Falls plant until 1912,
at which time the local industry was closed down because the supply
of lumber available had at last been exhausted. Mr. Irvine is also sec-
retary of the Northern Lumber Company of Cloquet, Minnesota. He
is vice president of the Lumberman's National Bank of Chippewa Falls,
is a director of the Wisconsin Central Railway Company, a trustee of
the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, a
member of the board of governors of the National Lumber Manufactur-
ers Association, of which organization he was president during 1907-
08. He is also president of the American Immigration Association.
Fraternally Mr. Irvine is affiliated with Chippewa Lodge No. 176 A. F.
& A. M. ; Chippewa Chapter No. 46 R. A. M. ; Tancred Commandery
No. 27, K. P., and having attained thirty-two degrees of Scottish Rite
belongs to the Wisconsin Consistory. Mr. Irvine was married at Alount
Carroll, Illinois, October 8, 1873, to Miss Adelaide Beardsley, who was
born in Pennsylvania.

Though for many years one of the largest manufacturers of white
pine lumber in the United States, Mr. Irvine's name probably became
most familiar with lumbermen and all engaged in the lumber business
through his connection with the Mississippi Valley Lumbermen's Asso-
ciation. This organization embraces within its membership or affiliated

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1631

bodies, about nine-tenths of the manufacturers engaged in the produc-
tion of white pine lumber in Wisconsin and Minnesota outside the mills
on the great lakes. Mr. Irvine first became actively identified with the
Association at its organization in 1891. In 1896 he was made vice presi-
dent, serving through that year and 1897, and on I\Iarch 1, 1898, was
elected president to succeed W. H. Laird. He served three years as
president and gave much of his time to the organization. Without doubt
the successful position of the association among national lumber organi-
zations was largely due to the earnest work of Mr. Irvine while presi-
dent and he has ever since retained an active part in the association's
affairs through his individual membership.

Dayton E. Cook. In sixteen years of active practice at ChippcAva
Falls, Mr. Cook has distinguished himself for a solid ability as a lawyer,
and at the same time had devoted much of his time and energy to the
public welfare. Mr. Cook has for some years been known as one of the
leaders of the local bar, and the community has often looked to his inter-
ests and support for many enterprises and movements for the advance-
ment and general upbuilding of this city.

Dayton E. Cook was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, December
14, 1873, and was second in a family of four childi-en born to Sylvanus
H. and Nellie (Reese) Cook. The father was born in Hornellsville,
Steuben county, New York, in 1846, and the mother was born in the
same year in Eastern New York State. The parents were married in
Dane county, Wisconsin, and their children are as follows: Dr. F.
D. Cook, a dentist at Chippewa Falls; Dayton E.; Pearl; Effie C, wife
of T. W. Ainsworth, now a resident of Alberta, Canada. The father
who is still living, is a veteran of the Civil war, and saw much hard
service for the Union. He enlisted early in the war in the First
Regiment of New York Cavalry, known as the New York Dragoons.
His term of service continued for nearly four years, and he participated
in twenty-nine major engagements. At the close of the war he came
west, locating in Dane county, Wisconsin, where he was one of the
substantial farmers until 1880. In that year he removed west, fol-
lowing the pioneer line and located at Aberdeen, Brown county, South
Dakota. There he has for more than thirty years been engaged in
wheat raising, and is one of the largest crop producers in that sec-
tion, cultivating each year a thousand acres of land. In politics he
is a Republican.

Mr. Dayton E. Cook was about seven years of age when the family
moved out to South Dakota, and he w^as reared in that almost frontier
community, attaining his education in the common and high schools at

1632 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Aberdeen. After completing the courses in the local schools, he was
sent back to Wisconsin and entered the law department of the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin, where he was graduated in the class of 1895.
He continued his preparation for his career by a post-graduate course
in. the same university. In 1896 he located at Chippewa Falls, and
has since been attending to the demands of a large and increasing gen-
eral practice. For six years he served as district attorney, and was
city attorney for four years.

Mr. Cook was married October 21, 1896, at Lodi, Wisconsin, to Miss
Florence Stanley, a daughter of Daniel and Augusta F. (Wilkins)
Stanley. Her father, who died at the age of thirty-eight years was a
soldier in a Wisconsin Regiment during the Civil War being captain
of his company. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are the parents of two children,
Mabel and Maurice. Fraternally Mr. Cook is affiliated with the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of America, the Macca-
bees, and he and his family are prominent in the social affairs of
Chippewa Falls.

Hon, Andrew Galbraith Miller served as territorial judge from
November 1, 1838, succeeding Judge Frazer in that office, until he
was appointed district judge of the new district, upon the admission of
Wisconsin into the Union; and thereafter and for twenty-five years
discharged the functions of the Federal judiciary in the state.

Judge Miller's paternal ancestors came from the North of Ireland
and were of Scotch-Irish stock. His mother's maiden name was Jane
Galbraith, and she was a woman of English ancestry. Both families
emigrated to America in Colonial days and settled in Pennsylvania
on lands which they bought of William Perm, and they were active
in the struggle of the Colonies for independence, men of both houses
participating in the activities of the Colonial army during the long
struggle. Matthew Miller, the father of Andrew J., served with the
Pennsylvania Militia in the Niagara campaign of 1814.

Born near the present site of Carlisle, in Cumberland county,
Pennsylvania, on September 18, 1801, Andrew G. Miller was the eldest
of ten children of his parents. He prepared for college at an academy
in liis native town, matriculated at Dickinson College, went from
there to Washington College of Pennsylvania, and graduated from
the last named institution on September 19, 1819. He thereafter read
law in the office of Andrew Carruthers of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and
Avas admitted to the bar in 1822. Soon after his admission to the bar
his father died, and as the eldest of the family, the care of the home
largely devolved upon him. He practiced law in his own and ad-

HISTORY OP WISCONSIN 1633

joining counties with success until 1838, and for three years held the
office of Attorney General. On November 8, 1838, President Van
Buren commissioned him associate justice of the supreme court of
Wisconsin, to succeed William C. Frazer, deceased, and he thereupon
came to Wisconsin. He reached Milwaukee after a long and tedious
journey of a month and took the oath of office on December 10, 1838.
Upon the admission of Wisconsin to the Union in 1848, President
Polk appointed him judge of the United States district court for the
Wisconsin district, which then comprised all the territory in the new
state and so continued until 1870, when the state was divided into the
Eastern and Western districts.

It was then that Judge Miller was assigned to the Eastern dis-
trict and there he continued his service, giving honor and dignity to
his office and to his profession until the close of his long and eminently
useful life. After filling his office for a period of thirty-five years,
Judge Miller, on November 11, 1873, announced his determination to
retire from the bench in the following language : ' ' Two years ago,
then of the age when Federal Judges are allowed to resign on a con-
tinuance of their salaries, I was inclined to accept the terms of the
law, but being blessed with good health and not having the plea of
infirmity, in response to the expressed wishes of numerous highly
respectable and influential gentlemen of all parties and professions,
to retain my place, and not believing it proper to retire immediately
upon arriving at the specified age, I concluded to continue in office until
the expiration of thirty-five years from the date of my first commis-
sion. The time set for my resignation has arrived, and I make the
announcement to the president of the bar association that this day I
resign the office of district judge of the United States for the Eastern
district of Wisconsin, to take effect on the first day of January next.
An earlier day for my retiring would be agreeable to me, and should
have been set but for an amount of business pending, or submitted and
not disposed of, which requires my attention in the meantime. I am the
oldest Federal judge in commission, and the sole surviving judge who
administered the bankrupt act of 1841. As judge of the territorial su-
preme court, I attended its annual terms at Madison, and held the
district courts in the third district of the territory, which before the
admission of the state into the union, was composed of nine counties,
and also the terms of the district court as judge of the United States
without missing a term from sickness or any other cause.

"Although the infirmities of age cannot be plead as an excuse for
my resignation, yet after passing fifty-four years of my life in the law.
as a student in a law office, as a member of the bar. and as a judge for

1634 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

thirty-five years of the time in public service, I hope that the members
of the bar and my fellow citizens generally may approve of my retiring
from official duty in the evening of my days.

"I love the legal profession and esteem the worthy practitioner as
holding the most honorable position in the country; and I shall retire
with thankfulness to the bar for the aid they have rendered
me by their briefs and arguments in my judicial investigations, and
with my best wishes for their prosperity and happiness."

Judge Miller served as district judge until January 1, 1874, and
suddenly and utterly without premonition, on September 30, 1874, while
in apparent good health, he was stricken down by death. He was a con-
sistent Christian gentleman and a member of the Episcopal church ; one
who carried his religion into all the concerns of his daily life and who
loved God and his fellow men. He was a man of domestic tastes and in-
clinations and ever enjoyed the sacred precincts of his home circle.

He was married in 1827 to Miss Caroline E. Kurtz, of Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, whose grandfather assisted in the establishment of the
Lutheran church in America. At his death Judge ^liller left a widow,
two sons and a daughter. His eldest son, Andrew G. Miller, Jr., at one
time prominent as an officer in the army, died several years prior to the
death of the judge. The remaining two sons were B. K. and J. M.
Miller, and the daughter became the wife of James G. Jenkins, now a
retired judge of the United States Circuit Court.

Judge Miller was long an honored and esteemed member of the Old
Settlers' Club and was prominent in every undertaking that had for its
object a tendency to familiarize the people with the history of the state
in its earlier days. His papers and addresses on the subject were always
masterpieces of their kind and never failed to gain the attention of all,
and have been published in permanent and enduring form by order of
the Club, of which Judge Miller had been honored with the position of
presiding officer at one time.

During his career as a judge he dispensed a justice unexcelled in- its
quality by any court, and his whole life was one that left the mark of
quality upon the community in which he was best known.

John Reinig. When the late John Reinig came to America in com-
pany with an uncle in 1851, he was a boy of fifteen years, and he was a
resident of Fond du Lac since April, 1866, up to the time of his passing.
He was for years identified here with the malting business of the city,
the Fond du Lac Malt and Grain Company, of which he and his son
were the leading spirits, being one of the foremost concerns of its kind
in the country. A good business man, an excellent citizen and in all

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1635

things an honest man, he made his presence felt in the commercial and
civic life of the city, and his place among his fellow men was one of
which he might well have been proud.

John Reinig was born in Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, on June 12,
1836, and he was sixty-nine years of age when he died as the result of
an accident, on Saturday, June 24:th, 1905. His mother died when he
was a babe of two years, and eight years later his father died, so that
he was orphaned at the age of ten. He was cared for thereafter by an
uncle, whom he accompanied to America when he was fifteen years
old, and his first work on these shores was in a salt plant in Syracuse,
New York. Later he went to New York City and there he learned the
trade of a tinsmith, after which he took up his residence in Utica, New
York. For some years he was engaged in the hardware business in
Rochester, New York, and in April, 1866, he left the east, coming to
Wisconsin and locating in Fond du Lac. Here he engaged in the
hardware business, his first place of business being just north of the
Palmer House.

Frugal in his habits of living, energetic and careful in his business,
and possessing business ability of no slight quality, he forged ahead
in his business, laying up money continually, and finally in 1892 he
formed the Buerger-Reinig Company, and engaged in the malting busi-
ness. A large plant was built, and the new firm was successful from
the start. In 1896 Mr. Buerger retired ai:d the firm became the Fond
du Lac Malt and Grain Company, o£ which Mr. Reinig continued the
active head until his death. The business was ever a prosperous one,
and when he passed on he was one of the wealthy men of the city.

Mr. Reinig was one who always had time to encourage any enter-
prise having for its end the betterment of the city, and he was one of
the first to contribute to the securing of the M. D. Wells Company for
this city. He had the best interests of the city and county ever at
heart, and much good was wrought by him in his labors for the ad-
vancement of the civic interests.

Though essentially a busy man, Mr. Reinig found time on at least
two occasions to visit his native land, making trips across in 1876 and
again in 1899. It was his genuine intent to make another visit to his
Homeland in the later years of his life, but ever increasing business
cares caused him to postpone the pleasure from year to year, so that
the time never came for him to visit his native Germany in his later
years.

While a resident of New York state, in 1863, August 25th, :\Ir.
Reinig married Miss Rose Hartman, of Verona, N. Y. She survives
him, also a son and daughter. W. C. Reinig, the son, is interested in the
Fond du Lac Malt and Grain Company and was his father's assistant
for years, before the death of that worthy gentleman. The daughter,
Emma, resides with her mother.

1636 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

"Time as an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten as a dream
Dies at the opening day." — Watts.

Skavlem Family of Wisconsin. The author of this sketch has
consented to furnish data and material for a short biography of "one
of the early pioneer families of the state of Wisconsin." Fully realizing
that they are entitled to no distinction, fame or long remembrance —
that the record of the individual is but that of one of the soon-to-be-
forgotten millions — yet he hopes that the brief record of life and con-
ditions in the early formative days of our state may add just a trifle
to the permanent history of Wisconsin. "It is a high, solemn, almost
awful thought for every individual man that his earthly influence which
has had a commencement, will never through all ages have an end, —
what is done is done ; has already blended itself with the boundless
ever-living, ever-working Universe and will also work there for good or
for evil, openly or secretly, throughout all time." — Carlyle. To them
this sentiment was an ever present reality.

Faithfully acting their simple parts in the great drama of life,
with that rugged Norse fidelity to their code of strict justice and honest
dealing, they "builded better than they knew." Their influence has
aided in the uplift and betterment of society, even affecting the
larger communities of state and nation.

Skavlem Family in America. (Halvor Gullikson Skavlem; Bergit
Ols-datter Skavlem.) — The founders of the Skavlem family in America
were Halvor Gullikson Skavlem and his wife, Bergit Ols-datter Skavlem.
They were thrifty peasants and owned the farmstead of "Nordre-
Skavlem" in the sub-parish of Weglie, Nummedal, Norway. The fam-
ily consisted of the parents and eight children, seven boys and one girl,
named : Ole, Gullik, Halvor, Paul, Kari, Gjermund, Lars and Her-
brand.

If a seer had foretold the destiny of this sturdy family of Norse
mountaineers it would have been to them a romance surpassing that
of the Arabian Nights. Could they have seen their names enrolled on
the list of honored pioneers in a foreign land, — to them at that time
entirely unknown, — it would have appeared as improbable as a pres-
ent-day prediction of a trip to the moon would be to us.

In 1838 Ansten Nattestad returned from his exploring trip to the
United States, having penetrated into the then far northern wilderness
of that, to his countrymen, entirely unknown country, even as far west
as the great Lake Michigan and the frontier town of Chicago. He
brought back wonderful stories of opportunities awaiting the enter-
prising pioneer, whose brain and brawn were the only requisites neces-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1637

sary to transform the wilderness into fertile farms and prosperous
homes.

Gullik, the next oldest son, with family of wife and daughter, also
the three unmarried sons, Gjermund, Lars and Herbrand, were among
the first to sign the list of prospective immigrants to the far-otf country.
At Drammen they embarked on the immigrant ship ' ' Emelia ' ' — Captain
Ankerson — for New York, where they landed on the twenty-third day
of August, 1839, having been nine weeks at sea. From New York to
Chicago was a long and tedious journey, by way of the Erie canal, and
slow boats over the lakes to the then little frontier town of Chicago.
From Chicago the journey was mostly afoot with their emigrant baggage
transported by slow moving ox-teams over the wet and swampy prai-
ries of northern Illinois to their final destination, Jefiferson Prairie,
Rock county, in the southern part of the territory of Wisconsin. There
the first Norwegian settlement in Wisconsin had been located the previ-
ous year by Ole Nattestad, a brother of Ansten Nattestad. Ole joyously
welcomed the new arrivals and in true Norse hospitality tendered the
freedom of every house in the settlement — which consisted of one log
cabin. (A very instructive account of the early history of this settle-
ment is given by H. L. Skavlem in Chapter XVIII, History of Rock
County, Wisconsin. C. F. Cooper & Company, Chicago, 1908.)

In 1841 the balance of the Skavlem family, excepting the son Hal-
vor, emigrated and joined the colony in Rock county. The father and
mother found a home with their son Gullik, whose farm was located
some two miles northwest of the little village of Beloit. Paul and Ole,
with their families, found a temporary home with Gjermund and Lars
at their home in section 11, town 1, range 11, until they were able to pro-
vide one of their own, and the sister Kari (Caroline) soon found
employment at Madison as a domestic in the family of James Duane
Doty, then governor of the territory of Wisconsin. Thus in the short
space of three years the Skavlem family was transplanted from their
little mountain home in Norway to the virgin lands of one of the most
fertile and beautiful sections of the great northwest.

After fifteen years' residence in Rock county, Gullik for the second
time became a pioneer, this time joining the colony established by C.
L. Clausen, .>\'hich left Rock Prairie in the middle of May, 1853. The
Clausen party consisted of a train of forty ox teams, drawing the reg-
ulation "prairie schooners." This party located in Mitchell county,
Iowa, where Mr. Skavlem joined them during the summer of 1854 and
there spent the balance of his days in developing his second home in
the wilderness. The youngest of the family, Herbrand, (Abram Hol-
verson) — (the various changes in Norwegian names is explained by Mr.
H. L. Skavlem in the Rock county history previously referred to) — again
listened to the "call of the wild" and after more than a quarter of a
century's residence in Rock county, resumed the pioneer's life. This

1638 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

time in southern Kansas, uear Cedar Vale in Chautauqua couuty. where
he still resides, surrounded by a large progeny of well-to-do farmers,
a conspicuous character now fast approaching the century mark —
respected and honored as one of the sturdy characters that always
"made good." The pioneer history of Chautauqua county will not
be complete without the name of Abram Holverson occupying a prom
inent part of that record.

In the little country churchyard at Luther Valley, the balance of the
Skavlem immigrants are now located. There rest the old parents, Hal-
vor Gullikson and Bergit Ols-datter, Nordre Skavlem. Halvor Gullik-
son Skavlem died eight days after arriving at his son's home; his wife
died in 1854; Paul Skavlem and the deceased of his family are buried
here. Of Paul's family four children are still living, three daughters
all residing in Beloit, Wisconsin, one son living at Cedar Vale, Kansas.
Ole Skavlem, wife and two children, Gjermund Skavlem, and the sis-
ter, Mrs. Kari Skavlem Wagley and her family, excepting two sons,
still living, all have found rest in this little country churchyard. Lars
Skavlem with his large family of twelve children are also to be found
here excepting the two living, H. L. Skavlem of Janesville, Wisconsin,
and Mrs. Edmund Thompson of Beloit.

It is quite remarkable that so many of this large pioneer family
should find this last resting place together in one little country church-
yard, while their living descendants are scattered from the Atlantic to
the Pacific and from Hudson's Bay to Texas.

Lars H. Skavlem was reared to agricultural pursuits under the par-
ental roof, until of suitable years, and he then traveled extensively in his
native country selling goods. In 1839 he immigrated to America, spend-
ing the first winter in Chicago and in the spring of 1840 he came to
Rock county, Wisconsin, where he located on government land in sec-
tion 11, town 1, range 11 east, now town of Newark. He occasion-
ally added to his holdings and until his farm consisted of two hundred
and fifteen acres of well improved land. He built up a com-
fortable home and resided there until his death, September 2, 1879.
Lars H. Skavlem was a prominent citizen among the pioneers of Rock
county, particularly so with his own countrymen. In politics in the
early days he was a strong anti-slavery man, siding with the Abolition-
ists until the formation of the Republican party, when he joined its
ranks and remained a strong adherent to its teachings, during the
remainder of his life. Strongly religious but bitterly opposed to
church intolerance and ecclesiastical domination, he took an active part
in the religious contentions of those early days. He was an active pro-
moter of the more liberal Americanized Lutheran church organizations
of that day. His home was the accepted headquarters of all religious
and missionary activities, and his house was used for church services
before there were school houses or church buildings. He inaugurated

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1639

the first opposition to the Norwegian clergy's parochial interference
with our public schools. He constantly and consistently advocated the
thorough Americanization of all foreigners, and looked upon the com-
mon school system as the most efficient means towards that end. A
constant member of the school board he always advocated good teach-
ers, good pay and longer school terms.

On the twenty-third day of May, 1844, Lars H. Skavlem was married
to Miss Groe Nilssen Aae, born in Nore Parish, Nummedal, Norway,
January 13, 1827. She was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Halvor
Nilssen Aae, and immigrated with her parents to this country in 1842.
They left Drammen in May on the immigrant vessel "Eleida, " com-
manded by Captain Johnson and lauded in New York after four long
and weary months at sea. Their food supplies grew scant. The ship
leaked. To add to the general misery sickness attacked the passen-
gers and out of one hundred and twenty, twelve were buried at sea.
Halvor Nilssen Aae was born in the parish of Nore, Nummedal, Norway,
August 12, 1781. He was a mechanic by trade, a silversmith and clock
maker, and in a small way manufactured needles and wire. He was
a natural inventor, contrived and planned many inventions that he never
had the means to carry to successful completion. He made several
clocks after coming to this country, and his was probably the first clock
made in Wisconsin in 1844. The remains of this clock are now in the
Historical Museum at Madison. He was looked upon as a man of
more than ordinary learning. His neighbors sometimes forgot them-
selves so far as to assert that the goldsmith knew more than the parson.

His wife was Guri Fruegne, also from Nore parish, and was born in
August, 1795. They had but one child, a daughter, Groe, who became
the wife of Lars H. Skavlem. Mr. H. Nilssen Aae purchased a piece
of government land in section 11, town of Newark; this he im-
proved and occupied until his death, which occurred in August, 1856.
His wife survived him and died at Beloit in her ninety-first year, April
14, 1886. They are both buried at the Luther Valley cemetery in the
town of Newark, Rock county, Wisconsin. They were strongly relig-
ious people and great admirers and followers of Hans Nielsson Hauge,
a noted religious reformer of Norway. Mr. Nilssen, or old "Halvor
Aae," as he was familiarly called by his countrymen, had the most

complete set of Hauge 's writings — and they were many then in

the country. This, used as a travelers' library, visited almost every
Haugianer's hamlet in the Norwegian settlements, their log house
alternated with Mr. Skavlem 's in furnishing church room for the
itinerant lay preachers before better accommodations could be secured.

Mrs. Groe Skavlem was a woman of model Christian character, a de-
voted wife and mother. She bore the hardships and privations of a pio-
neer 's life with that bravery and unflinching devotion to duty character-
istic of her race and people. During her long and active life she was

1640 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

a promiuent worker and liberal supporter of the Lutheran church, of
which she was an honored member. Twelve children were born to
Mr. and Mrs. Skavlem, five of whom grew to mature years, of whom
only two are now living: H. L. Skavlem, the oldest of the surviving,
now a resident of Jauesville, Wisconsin ; and Mrs. Caroline Thomp-
son, widow, the youngest of the family, now residing at Beloit. Mrs.
Skavlem survived her husband twenty-eight years and died at Beloit
July 23, 1907.

Halvor Larsen Skavlem. As an integral part of the preceding
article the editors insert here a more individual account of the career
of Mr. H. L. Skavlem, whose scientific and literary attainments are
well known in many quarters of both his home state and the nation.

Halvor Larsen Skavlem was born October 3, 1846, in the town of
Newark, Rock county, Wisconsin. He lived the life of the ordinary
pioneer farmer's boy. The working hours were from sun-up to sun-
down, with plenty of chores before and after. He got all there was to
be acquired in the common school education of that day. This he has
supplemented by judicious study and investigation for half a century.
Although his early opportunities were limited compared with that of
the present day, he made good use of them, and like so many self-made
men, he became a school teacher, combining farming in the summer and
teaching in the winter.

In December, 1873, he was married to Miss Gunnil Ommelstad
(Cornelia Olmstead) and they settled down to a farm life on a farm
he had previously purchased near his father 's old homestead in the town
of Newark. There they resided until 1880, when he was elected sheriff
of the county. They then removed to Janesville, where they have since
resided.

Mrs. Gunnil Ommelstad Skavlem was born in the town of Plym-
outh, Rock county, March 30, 1851. Her parents, Hans Haraldson
and Gjertrud Odegaarden Ommelstad were married in 1847 and shortly
after their marriage they made their home in section thirty, town of
Plymouth, Rock county. Hans Haraldson Ommelstad was born in the
parish of Land, Norway, September 28, 1820. With his parents he came
to America in 1843. They located in the town of Newark, Mr. Hans
H. Ommelstad died at his home in Plymouth, July 1, 1860. His father,
Harold Ommelstad, was the first chorister and parochial school teacher
in the Rock Prairie congregation. Rev. Dietrichson (1844) speaks of
him as a "remarkable fine old man that leads in the song service and
conducts the religious instruction of the children." Harold Ommel-
stad was bom in Land Parish, Norway, March 5, 1795, and died in
Newark, Wisconsin, September 25, 1891. Mrs. Gjertrud Odegaarden
Ommelstad was a daughter of Gunnil Gjermunds-datter Odegaarden,
familiarly known as "Widow Gunnil," a name promiuent in the earli-
est Scandinavian pioneer history of the state.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1641

Gunnil Odegaarden was a widow of Torsten Odegaarden, Nore
Parish, Nummedal, Norway. Her husband had become lost in the moun-
tains of Norway and is believed to have perished there, no trace of him
ever being found. She was left with a family of six girls. The two
oldest girls being married, remained in Norway. With her four younger
girls, who were named Gunnil, Gjertrude, Astrid and Guri, she joined
the Nattestad emigrant party in 1839. Her house was the second
house erected in the town of Newark, it being completed and ready for
occupancy in March, 1840.

She was a remarkably energetic and self-reliant individual, of strong
religious convictions, an ardent "Haugeaner" and her home was the
meeting place for the religious services until the sehoolhouse and church
took its place. She was always ready to render substantial aid and
advice to those in trouble and distress.

Gunnil Gjermunds-datter Odegaarden was born in Nore Parish,
Nummedal, Norway, 1796, and died at the home of her son-in-law, Her-
brand Holverson Skavlem (Abram Holverson), Rock county, Wisconsin,
July 16, 1854. She was the sixth and last victim of cholera at Mr.
Holverson 's home. Consecutively for six days, Mr. Holverson made a
trip to the cemetery with a cholera victim for burial.

(That cholera epidemic carried many of the first settlers to an
untimely end and blotted out whole families. At one time the deaths
were so numerous that volunteers were called on to excavate graves
and in several instances the digger of the grave was himself the occu-
pant thereof the next day.)

Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ommelstad. Only two are
now living. Anne, born January 28, 1848, married K. G. Springen and
is now living at Mayville, North Dakota. Gunnil is the wife of Halvar
L. Skavlem. After the death of Hans H. Ommelstad Mrs. Ommelstad
took up the management of the farm until 1865 when she married Tos-
ten R. Lofthus. To him she had one child, Gilbert Reinhart, born Au-
gust 20, 1865, died July 7, 1913. Mrs. Gjertrud Ommelstad Lofthus
died May 30, 1884, and is buried where so many of her pioneer com-
panions are at rest. In the little Luther Valley churchyard the silvered
locks and palsied hands of old pioneers performed the last rites for their
old companion. They tenderly laid her away, 'ueath the prairie flow-
ers and wildwood bloom that still lovingly linger round the graves of
the old pioneers, who years agone

Oft gathered fresh courage
Communing with God,
By the soft soothing spirit
Of nature's bright sod.

Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Skavlem are the parents of four children :
Hannah Luella, born in Newark, October 13, 1875. died in Janesville

16i2 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

December 2, 1898; Louis Norman, born October 13, 1875, now residing
in Janesville, Wis.; Gertrude Juliana, born in Newark, February 15,
1880, was librarian of the Janesville public library for ten years, and
married Herbert Holme November 15, 1910. Mr. Holme was born at
Blackburn, England, and is in the mercantile business in Janesville.
Henry Gilman, born in Janesville, January 31, 1885, a graduate of
Colorado School of Mines, is now located at Timmins, Ontario, Canada,
and engaged in mining.

In politics Mr. Skavlem has always affiliated with the Republican
party. Lining up with the progressive wing of that organization, he
never hesitated to champion progressive ideas that met his approval.
In his younger days during the farmers' war on monopolies — gener-
ally designated as the Granger movement — of the early seventies, Mr.
Skavlem was a consistent and persistent advocate of the leading reform
measures that at that time were sneeringly referred to as socialistic
propaganda. With voice and pen he contributed to the discussions
of the day and some of his addresses are permanently preserved in the
state publications. He now looks back across the space of nearly half
a century and is pleased to see that nearly every important reform
measure that he then espoused has now been written into the laws
of the state and nation. He is still on the firing line of progress, and
rather likes to be referred to as "unsafe and dangerous" by the moss-
backs.

Optimistic in his views, he believes in a slow but sure evolutionary
progress of man. The world is better now than it ever was before, and
to his view, the time is gradually nearing when the people will, shall
and must rule. The good roads movement found in Mr. Skavlem an
earnest and able advocate. As a leading member of the county board
he did much to line up his associates in favor of the movement, as
fast as the state legislated in favor of road improvement, the county
was ready to adopt the new system. Mr. Skavlem -was urged to accept
the new office of county highway commissioner, and at the end of his
term of office the county had eighty miles of improved county roads
and was conceded the banner good-roads county in the state.

Since living in Janesville, Mr. Skavlem has taken a great interest
in the public library. He was librarian for three years and for many
years has served on the board of directors. He promoted and helped
organize the State Library Association. He advocated and assisted
in introducing needed reforms in library administration ; open shelves
and children's room found in him a strong supporter.

He has always been interested in the early and contemporary his-
tory of his native state of Wisconsin, as well as in the prehistoric
ages of this region. By nature and training a careful and critical
observer, he has done valuable historic work, both for his county and
state. He is a valued member of the State Historical Society. He is

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1643

also a leading member of the State Ai'clieologieal Society and has
added valuable contributions to our knowledge of this interesting
study. For many years he has been a member of the Wisconsin
Natural History Society. As an ornithologist and botanist, he has
contributed valuable papers of original scientific research that are
real additions to scientific knowledge, and as a scientist he has more
than a local reputation.

Of his many popular and technical articles, it is impossible to
mention even the titles, but it will show some of the quality of his
literary style to quote the following paragraphs from an article
appearing in "By the Wayside" as Recollections of Bird-Life in
Pioneer Days. — "Some of the most lasting and vivid impressions of
my boyhood — I may well say childhood days — relate to and recall
pictures of bird-life in Southern Wisconsin, somewhat more than half
a century ago.

"We hark back to the time of the ponderous slow moving, break-
ing team, consisting of five to seven yoke of oxen, hitched to a long
cable of heavy logchains, attached to a crudely but strongly built
'breaker' with a beam like a young saw-log and a mould board
made of iron bars that turned over furrows two feet or more in width.
Those great unwieldly breaking teams, consisting of ten to four-
teen large oxen, are yet distinctly outlined on memory's page, and
reminiscently, I see them crawling like some huge Brobdignagian
caterpillar around and around the doomed 'land' — 'land,' in break-
ing parlance, being that piece of the wild selected for cultivation, — ■
leaving a black trail behind, that, day by day, increased in width,
bringing certain ruin and destruction, — ^absolute annihilation, — to the
plant, habitants who had held undisputed possession for untold cen-
turies.

"The mild-eyed, slow-moving ox teams were not only instruments
in the destruction of the centuries — old flower parks of the wilder-
ness, but with them came tragedies in bird-life, resultant from the
inevitable changes from nature's rule of the wild, to man's artificial
sway. Often in preparing or planning for the breaking of a new
piece of land, the same was guarded from the prairie fires of the fall
and early spring, so that it could be 'fired' at the time of breaking.
This would commence the latter part of May and continue on through
June and July, covering the nesting season of the numerous species
of bird-life, that had for untold generations, made this beautiful park
region of the Rock River Valley, their summer home."

Concerning his work as a collector of birds, a Wisconsin paper
recently said editorially: "His private collection includes fine speci-
mens from every family known to the Badger state records, except-
ing the Carolina paroquet, which has not been seen by any reliable
observer since the late '40s. The exhibits are grouped in their

1644 HISTORY OP^ AVISCONSIN

respective families and the latter arranged in the order of evolution
from the imperfectly formed diving birds which are most closely
related to the reptiles from which they sprang, to the so-called "perch-
ing birds' — the larks, finches, thrushes, woodwarblers and flycatchers,
— which are recognized as the most highly developed of the bird
family. There are nearly 300 of the 357 species in this exhibition,
including some birds now- almost extinct in Wisconsin — the wild turkey
of the pheasant family and the passenger pigeon."

Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias. In religious
matters he is inclined to do his own thinking, being more in harmony
with the Unitarian belief than any others. Mr. Skavlem wields a
ready and versatile pen and his literary field ranges from the tech-
nical, scientific paper to the lighter shades of magazine contributions in
both prose and verse. He has a wonderful fund of all around knowl-
edge. As he himself puts it, he is "one of the last of the old-time
naturalists, who knew a little of most everything, and not much of
any one thing." In his well chosen library^ — a unique collection of
scientific, philosophical, literary and religious treasures — he enjoys
the calm of life's evenings as he writes.

Aye, the shadow's growing longer,
Yet the sky is bright and blue,
And I see Nirvana yonder —
For my battered old canoe,
For my battered old canoe ;
Yes, I see Nirvana yonder —
For my battered old canoe.

Note. As a prominent and influential pioneer of Wisconsin, Lars
H. Skavlem has been referred to in the various historical records
both of Rock county and those of a more general scope relating to the
Scandinavian settlement of the state. Unfortunately many errors as
to dates and data and minor details have crept in. At our request,
Mr.* H. L. Skavlem has prepared this note, referring to the several
publications with corrections of errors therein noted: "History of
Rock County 1879," page 747, Lars H. Skavlem 's arrival in Newark
given as 1841, should be 1840; same page. Halvor L. Skavlem, date
of birth given as 1848, should be 1846. "Portrait & Biographical
Album, Rock County," 1889, page 423, sub.ject, Lars Halversen Skev-
lem, gives date of marriage 1843, correct date 1844. "History of Rock
County, 1908," Vol. 2, page 906, — sub.ject Halvor L. Skavlem, states
his mother was married to Mr. Skavlem. Sr., in 1843, should be 1844:
establishment of home . in Newark given as 1843, but IVIr. Skavlem 's
home was established in Newark in 1840, and Mrs. Skavlem joined him
in that home in 1844. "De Norske Settlementers History Holland
1908," page 128, gives the date as 1841 of the arrival of Lars Skav-

HISTORY OP WISCONSIN 1645

lem. This is an error as to Lars Skavlem. The date should be 1840.
"History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States," Flom.
1909 — In his account of the settlements of Jefferson and Rock Prairie,
Prof. Flom has much to say of the Skavlem family, mention is also
made of Halvor Nilson Aaas. This should be Halvor Nilssen Aae,
the father of Mrs. Groe Skavlem. The whole narrative is so badly
mixed and incorrect, both as to dates, data and historical sequence,
that it requires a thorough revision of the whole article to be
of any historical value. Prof. Flom's work is of inestimable value as
giving permanent records of Scandinavian pioneer life, and where he
deals with communities where the actors in the drama of life's record
were still living, his information will approach much nearer to that
historical accuracy that we all strive for. When we gather historical
data from second and third-hand hear-say and the informants not
realizing the necessity of critical accuracy, there is no wonder that
things get hopelessly mixed. A more careful verification of his
data particularly as to the earliest settlements would have added
much to the accuracy of his work.- — H. L. Skavlem.

Ida Leonora Schell, M. D. That a woman's work must be limited
by no arbitrary distinction or traditional customs, but solely on
the basis of fitness and ability, is rapidly becoming American prac-
tice, and, perhaps, more slowly, is being accepted by the moral and
"logical sense of the nation. The fields of educations, art and music,
have long been open to woman's activity, and more recently com-
mercial lines and the distinctive domains of law and medicine have
yielded their rewards to woman. Wisconsin has its quota of women
in the law and in medicine, and in the latter field one of the ablest
and probably the best known in Milwaukee is Dr. Schell.

Dr. Schell, who specializes in diseases of women and children,
and who is prominently connected with the organized professional
activities of the city and state, has a career of particular interest,
not alone for her present attainments and position, but also for
the experiences which led her to make the struggle of a pioneer
along the advanced lines of women's vocational domains, helping
to extend the frontier of women's work beyond its hitherto circum-
scribed limits.

Ida Leonora Schell was born in Montezuma, loAva, November
30, 1862. Her father, Joseph Schell, who was born and reared in
Saxony, Germany, came to America in 1850, and was a furniture
dealer. The mother, whose maiden name was Walpurga Fink,
was reared in southern Germany and came to America in 1853.
The parents were married in 1855, and reared nine children, their
marriage having occurred in Burlington, Iowa, and in the fall of 1857,
on a typical prairie schooner, they moved from Burlington to Mon-

1646 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

tezuma. The father was engaged in the furniture business in that
town, and that was the place where the children were reared. The
father as a boy in Germany had learned the cabinet maker's trade,
and during the early years of his business in Montezuma, when not
all the mechanical trades and industries were represented in the
community, he often made coflfins. He was a well known man in his com-
munity and he and his wife spent their remaining years at Monte-
zuma. The father was eighty-three and the mother was sixty when
death came to them. The father was a Horace Greeley Democrat,
and a great admirer of that journalist and statesman. Of the two
sons and seven daughters, four daughters and two sons are now
living, Dr. Schell having been the fourth in order of birth. George
J. Schell resides in Keokuk, Iowa, and is in the furniture business;
Viola is in the State Superintendent's Office at Des Moines, Iowa,
and is secretary of the State Board of Educational Examiners;
Katherine is the wife of Charles E. Hearst, a stock farmer at Cedar
Falls, Iowa; Mary is a teacher at Montezuma.

Though the story might be briefly told, the early life of Dr.
Schell furnishes very entertaining and instructive material for the
biographer. As a girl she thoroughly enjoyed school studies and
was especially devoted to arithmetic and algebra. She had made
excellent progress in these branches, but when fifteen years of age
and the boys of the class were preparing to take up the study of geom-
etry, a New England school master interposed a traditional veto, and
would not allow Miss Schell to acquire a knowledge of lines and
plain surfaces — just because she was a girl. Education has advanced
a long way in all parts of the country since the time when such a
thing was possible, though no doubt at the present time exist many
glaring inconsistencies which twenty-five years from now will seem
as absurd as did this interdiction of the New England school master.
It is not difficult to understand and to sympathize with the indig-
nation of Miss Schell when thus prevented from maintaining her
place in studies along with her boy associates, and it was really
from this incident that dated her ardor and persistent advocacy
of the cause of woman suffrage and privileges. When she was six-
teen years of age she began teaching in a country school, taught
one term there and then four years in the graded school at home,
after which she entered the Academy at Mount Vernon, Iowa. Her
attendance at college was frequently interrupted owing to lack of
funds, and she secured these by resuming teaching. She taught in
the high school at West Liberty, at Marshalltown, and at Fort
Dodge, and also in the State Normal School at Cedar Falls. She
had graduated from Cornell College at Mount Vernon with the class
of 1889, at which time she received the degree of Ph. B. While
engaged in teaching in the State Normal School at Cedar Falls,

HISTORY OP WISCONSLN 1647

though her proficiency had placed her in the front rank of the
Normal teachers, when she requested an increase in salary the pres-
ident of the school informed her that she must not expect any higher
salary, as "a thousand dollars a year was a mighty lot of money
for a woman," and "a woman teacher's salary is not a question of
work, it's a question of economies. She can't earn more than a
thousand dollars anywhere in Iowa."

Thus again Miss Schell was brought up against the dead wall of
social custom and as there was no immediate prospect of her breaking
down this barrier, she turned aside and devoted her studies to medicine.
She studied in the State University of Iowa, and at the Northwestern
of Iowa, and at the Northwestern University Women's Medical
University Women's Medical School at Chicago, where she was gradu-
ated and received her doctor's degree in June, 1900. The summer before
graduation she spent in the German Hospital at Philadelphia, as general
helper, and the year following graduation she was interne at the Mary
Thompson Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Schell came to Milwaukee in No-
vember, 1901, and has enjoyed a large and distinctive practice in this
city. Her offices are in the Goldsmith building, and her residence is at
174 Twenty-Seventh Street. Since May, 1906, she has served as
attending physician to the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls. Dr.
Schell joined the Social Economic Club in 1902, the County Medical
Society in 1903, and the Milwaukee Medical Society in 1907, and
is also a member of the American Medical Association. She is keenly
interested in social and civic problems, and does all she can to
promote the privilege of sufl'rage among women.

Frederic William Upham. To the field of national business
affairs and politics Wisconsin has contributed no abler or more prom-
inent figure than Frederic W. Upham of Chicago. The first thirty-
three years of his life were spent in Wisconsin. In that time he had
reached the position of general manager of one of the large manu-
facturing concerns of the state. His subsequent career has been passed
in Chicago, and his name is now on the official directorate of half a
dozen or more industrial and commercial organizations which are
among the largest of their kind in the country, and for a number of
years he has been one of the strongest factors in the Republican party
in the middle west.

Frederic William Upham was born in Racine on January 29, 1861,
of old pioneer stock. His parents were Calvin H. and Amanda E.
(Gibbs) Upham. The earlier ancestors were soldiers in the Colonial,
Revolutionary, in the war of 1812, the Mexican war, and in the Rebel-
lion. His father likewise gained distinction as a soldier. William
H. Upham, uncle of the Chicago business man, is well remembered as
governor of Wisconsin from 1895 to 1897.

1648 HISTORY OF AYISCONSTN

Mr. Upham was a student at Ripon College, and is now on the
Board of Trustees. On leaving- school he joined his uncle subseriuently
Governor Upham, in the lumber business, with the Upham Manufactur-
ing Company at Marshfield. He went through all the grades from
lumber inspector to general manager of that concern.

In 1894, moving to Chicago, he engaged in the lumber business on
his own account, organizing the Fred W. Upham Lumber Company,
now the Upham & Agler Lumber Company. The scope of his busi-
ness relations is indicated by his official connections with the following
important companies: He is vice-president of the Chicago & Illinois
Midland Railway; president of the Consumers Company; director of
the Peabody Coal Company, of the Calumet Insurance Company,
of the Security Life Insurance Company, of the American Surety
Company, of the Single Service Corporation of America, and of the
U, S. Realty Company.

The most distinctive achievement of Mr. Upham 's business career
has been his part in the organization of what is now probably the
largest single semi-public service corporation in the world. In Feb-
ruary, 1913, was announced through the press, the new incorporation
of the Consumers Company, by which is effected the merger of the
Knickerbocker Ice and the City Fuel Companies. Mr. L^pham, for-
merly president of the City Fuel Company, has been elected president
of the new concern. Now under one unit of management, are con-
ducted supply services which only a few years ago were scattered
through a number of agencies. The City Fuel Company was in itself
a great consolidation of biiying and distributing forces and represented
a development from a time when the service of supplying coal to
consumers was conducted through two or three small yards located
in different parts of the city, and with the facilities of a few wagons,
and a staff of employes who, owing to the nature of the business,
suffered more or less irregularity in their employment, and conse-
quently in the standard of their etficiency. The same v/as true in the
story of the Knickerbocker Ice Company, which for several years com-
bined under one management several of the largest companies which
had formerly competed in supplying this product to the I'etail trade
in Chicago. In the pioneer days, the headquarters of the Knicker-
bocker Company was a little office in what is now the center of the
Chicago business district and the ice was cut from Lake Michigan
near the site now occupied by one of the largest buildings on Michigan
Avenue. At the point of its highest development as an independent
service company the Knickerbocker Ice Company had ice plants in
three states near Chicago, with a capacity of over two million tons,
and its facilities for supplying the trade comprised a small army of
employes, with over five hundred motor trucks and wagons. The

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1649

Knickerbocker Company had also a large business in building material,
such as sand and stone, cement and other products.

Even under the conditions represented by the remarkable develop-
ment of the City Fuel Company and the Knickerbocker Ice Company,
there was great loss of efficiency, due to the fact that the business
of the Fuel Company reached its peak during the winter season and
consequently fell off in the summer while exactly the opposite was
true of the ice company. The consolidation of the two services under
one unit was therefore a move approved by common sense and business
logic. The facilities for distributing ice, which were usually idle for
about half a year, are to be fully utilized in the distribution of coal
during the winter season, the surplus facilities of the ice department,
on the other hand, being employed to supplement the coal service during
the winter, and in this way the operating efficiency will attain the
maximum of economy.

Not only does the Consumers Company represent a great advance
in business management, but the new service is equally advantageous
to the public. The thoroughness of the business organization, the pride
of the company in its high standards and reputation for tirst class
service, the ample facilities, the precautions taken to insure purity,
correct weights, and promptness of delivery, are features which the
public has already come to realize and appreciate in the new consumers
company. Then, too, a great corporation like this has its practical and
beneficent relations to that ever-present side of city life — charity to
the poor. During the winter of 1912-13 Mr. Upham as president of
the City Fuel Company, directed the service of that great corporation
to supplying the poor of Chicago with many tons of coal free of
charge. Early in the summer of 1913, the Consumers Company sent
out to physicians and pastors and other heads of churches throughout
the city, blank certificates, which when properly filled out and signed,
entitled the holders among the deserving poor to the free ice distribution
service inaugurated as the latest phase of charity by this great public
service corporation.

Mr. Upham 's record in business has its counterpart in public life.
Soon after locating in Chicago he became active in politics, and in 1898
was elected alderman from the Twenty-second ward. As a member
of the city council he sought for a clean administration and used his
salary in employing assistants in his work. He had been an alderman
but a short time when he was elected a member of the Board of Review,
the duties of which he took up on January 1, 1899, and has held the
position for fourteen years. Probably no official in the city govern-
ment comes into more direct relations with the city's taxpayers than
the head of the Board of Review, and in this position ]\Ir. Upham has
done much for the people in equalizing taxation. During his residence
in Wisconsin, Mr. Upham served as a delegate to the Republican

1650 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

National Convention at Minneapolis, in 1892, and was again a delegate
to the Republican Convention of 1912. He was vice-chairman of the
committee on arrangements for the Republican National Convention of
1904, and was chairman of the same committee in the conventions of
1908 and 1912. In 1908 he was assistant treasurer in the west for the
Taft Campaign.

At the present time Mr. Upham is president of the Wisconsin Society
of Chicago. He was president in 1908-09 of the Illinois Manufacturers
Associations; since 1906 has been chairman of the executive committee
of the National Business League of America ; is a member of the Society;
of Colonial Wars, of the Sons of American Revolution, of the New-
England Society, and of the ^lilitary Order of the Loyal Legion. Mr.
Upham 's membership is in the following clubs: Chicago Club, Union
League Club, Commercial Club, Chicago Athletic Association, Hamilton
Club, Mid-day Club, City Club, Press Club, Chicago Automobile Club,
South Shore Country Club,, Glen View Golf Club, Chicago Golf Club,
and the Union League and the Automobile Club of America in New
York City, also the Metropolitan Club of Washington, D. C. Mr.
Upham married Miss Helen Hall of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Frank R. Crumpton. Since 1890 few citizens have been more
closely or earnestly devoted to the interests of Superior than has Frank
R. Crumpton. A business man, with varied enterprises of importance
on his hands, when he was called upon to discharge the duties of citizen-
ship as an incumbent of high public office he uncomplainingly laid
aside his private ventures, brought his eminent abilities to bear in behalf
of better civic government, and gave his fellow-citizens a clean and
conscientious service that gave him an indisputable claim to a position
among those men who have devoted their energies to making the city
of Superior the peer of those at the head of the Lakes.

Ex-mayor Frank R. Crumpton was born December 2, 1864, in La
Salle county, Illinois, and is a son of Warren W. and Sarah B. (Remick)
Crumpton, natives of Kennebec county, Maine. His father came to La
Salle county, Illinois, as early as 1848, becoming a pioneer farmer and
stock raiser, and rose to a high position in the esteem of his fellow-towns-
men, who elected him to represent them as justice of the peace, member
of the school board, and various other township offices, and at aU times
he gave evidence of the possession of the sterling characteristics of his
New England forefathers. He supported Republican principles and
policies, and was for a number of years a member of the ^lasonic fra-
ternity, and at his death, in 1883, when he was fifty-six years of age,
his community lost one of its best citizens. His wife passed away in
1878, when forty-six years of age, having been the mother of three
children, of whom two are now living : Frank R. ; and William H., of
Superior, a member of the Grain and Warehouse Commission.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1651

After attending the public schools of La Salle county, Illinois,
Frank R. Crumpton entered the Northwestern Normal School, at Gene-
seo, Illinois, where he was graduated with the class of 1885, in the
meantime having taken charge of the home farm at the time of his
father's death. He served as commissioner in La Salle county for
three terms, but in 1890 disposed of his interests in Illinois and came
to Wisconsin, opening offices in Superior on April 2d of that year.
He has since been interested in the real estate, insurance and grain
commission business, and has built up a large and representative
clientele, being known as one of the most able and shrewd men in his
line in the city. He maintains well appointed offices in the Ignited
States National Bank Building. Mr. Crumpton entered the political
field in Superior in 1903, when he became the candidate of the Repub-
lican party for the office of alderman of the Second Ward. He was
elected to this office, and re-elected twice, and in 1908 was sent to the
mayoralty chair, and his excellent administration caused his reelection
in 1910. His services in the chief executive's office were such as to be
of a beneficial nature to his adopted city, numerous municipal improve-
ments, long needed, being made during the four years in which he
administered the affairs of the city. His record served to demonstrate
that a business man of ability could be safely trusted with the reins of
office and that one who had made a success of his own affairs was
likely to possess the ability to handle those of the community. Socially,
Mr. Crumpton is connected with the Commercial and Curling Clubs,
and his fraternal affiliations are with Superior Lodge and Chapter of
the Masonic order and Superior Lodge of Elks.

On January 12, 1886, Mr. Crumpton was married to Miss Rachel
R. Hartman, of Philadelphia, and to this union there have been born
two children: Doris H. and Kenneth.

Charles Benjamin Clark. A former congressman and one of the
founders and chief executives of the Kimberly-Clark Paper Company
at Neenah, Charles Benjamin Clark began his carreer like many other
successful Americans, as a boy looking for a job and taking the first
work that he could get, and finding his opportunities as he went long.

Charles Benjamin Clark was born at Theresa, Jefferson county, New
York, August 4, 1844. When eleven years old, his parents moved to
Neenah, Wisconsin. His father was Luther 0. Clark, who died in 1853.
His widowed mother Theda (Tamblin) Clark, lived in Neenah, and was
chiefly supported by her son Charles B., until her death on January
16, 1871, at the age of sixty-seven years.

At Neenah the boy had some additional educational advantages.
At the age of sixteen, he started to work for Robert Hold at two dol-
lars a week, in the Hold Furniture Factory. Mr. Hold later told how
the future paper manufacturer came to him one day at Neenah, and

1652 IILSTOKY OF WISCONSIN

applied for a job, but was at first told that no more help was needed.
The boy, somewhat discouraged, looked around over the shop, and
remarked that it was his opinion that among so many surely something
could be found to employ his energies. This manifestation of spirit in
the boy attracted Mr. Hold's attention, and after consulting with the
foreman, it was discovered that one of the employes was to leave the
following day, and therefore the place was promised to young Clark,
but instead of waiting for the following day the youth insisted on being
set to work at once, and was finally put to the task of bending chair-
backs.

Not long afterwards the great national event of the Civil war gave
a new turn to young Clark's energies. He was seventeen when the
war came on, and in August, 1862, he went out as a private in Com-
pany I of the Twenty-first Regiment of Wisconsin Infantry. Very
soon afterwards came his promotion to lieutenancy of the company, and
he made an excellent record as a faithful and gallant soldier. On his
return to Neenah from the war, he went into partnership with H. P.
Leavens and A. W. Patten, under the name Leavens, Clark & Com-
pany, as hardware merchants on Wisconsin street. In April, 1870, Mr.
Patten withdrew, and the firm became Leavens & Clark. About two
years later Mr. Clark sold his interest, and then put all his means and
energies into a new paper mill enterprise, under the name of Kimberly,
Clark & Company, and destined in its subsequent development to rival
all industries of the kind in the world. The original partnership was
composed excellently for its purposes. Mr. Clark being a man of prac-
tically inexhaustible energy, and had great constructive ability. Mr.
Kimberly at the same time was very proficient as a buyer of stock, and
also an excellent salesman, while Mr. Shattuck was an expert account-
ant. Thus all three angles of the business were provided for and those
three men divided the details of the concern among them in that way at
first, though subsequently it became necessary to readjust the burdens
of the rapidly growing concern. It is unnecessary to refer to the
magnificent business developed under the name of Kimberly, Clark &
Company, but it should be stated that the late Charles B. Clark was
a moving spirit in that concern as long as he lived and to small degree
its success is a monument to his remarkable foresight and judgment and
energy.

In public afi:airs, beginning with his record in the Civil war as a
soldier, he long had an active part and always as a worker for good
government and the welfare of his community and state. For many
years he was connected with the volunteer fire department of Neenah,
serving as chief at one time. He also held a place in the city council
and was three times elected mayor. In 1885 he was sent to the state
legislature and in 1886 was elected to Congress by ten thousand major-
ity. He was reelected in 1888, and after two terms of service in behalf

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1653

of his district and state and the nation, which well justified a continu-
ance of his honors, he was renominated, but "the red school house"
issue was sprung in the state by the Democrats, and the entire Repub-
lican party ticket was defeated, Mr. Clark along with the rest.

The late Mr. Clark died at Neenah, September 10, 1891, and with
him there passed away one of Wisconsin's foremost men in industrial
and political life. Incidentally it may be mentioned that his funeral
was an occasion which precipitated a historic conflict into the Repub-
lican party. Among those who mourned his passing and who attended
the last rites were a host of friends from all parts of the state, among
them men high in public affairs, including Senator Sawyer. Sena-
tor Sawyer, in course of the day had a conversation with Robert
LaFollette, then practicing law at Madison, and the interpretation
placed upon that conversation aroused enmities and started a factional
fight in the Republican ranks, from which originated the terms "Stal-
warts and Half -Breeds, " designating the two sides in a political
strife which has not yet ceased in Wisconsin.

Charles B. Clark was man-ied December 27, 1867, to Miss Carolina
Hubbard, of Neenah. To them were born three children: Theda
Clark, who married Wm. C. Peters, of Goshen, Ind. ; Carolina Clark,
who married Harry Lee Davidson, now deceased, and who lived at
Montgomery, Alabama; and Charles Benjamin Clark, secretary of
the Kimberly, Clark & Company, who lives at Neenah. The son
recently married Miss Jessie Kerwin, daughter of Judge James C.
Kerwin of Neenah. The son has followed in the footsteps of his father
as a prominent business man, and has also done much in public affairs.
He is the present Mayor of the City of Neenah and recently announced
the gift of a hospital to Neenah through the money left by his sister,
Mrs. Theda Clark Peters. The name of the institution is the Theda
Clark Memorial Hospital.

Hon. John Dengler. It would be difficult to conceive of a better
illustration of the facility with which, under the liberal institutions
of this great country, a man of ability and integrity, whether native
born or of foreign birth and impressions, may rise to any station,
perhaps among the most exalted, than is afforded in the history of
the Hon. John Dengler, ex-mayor of La Crosse, and a citizen who for
many years has been an important factor in the commercial life of
the city. When Mr. Dengler came to this country, a rosy-cheeked
lad of eleven years, he knew but little of the English language — ■
only the rudiments — and his educational training continued only
until his twelfth year, at which time he embarked upon a business
career that has covered more than half a century of time. By attend-
ing strictly to business and iitilizing his meagre leisure time to
advantage, he succeeded in gaining a good education and a foot-

Vol. VI— 18

1654 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

hold on the ladder of success, up which his rise was steady and
continuous in the ensuing years. A sketch of his career, which is
worthy of emulation by the youth of any land, follows:

John Dengler was born January 1, 1849, in Koenigswart, Austria,
and is a son of Francis and Barbara (Dietl) Dengler. His father first
came to the United States alone in 1856, but four years later returned
to his native country and when l^e again came to America brought
with him his two sons and one daughter. Locating for a short time
in New York City, he was engaged in the retail shoe business in
the metropolis, but soon removed to Reading, Pennsylvania, and
there continued in the same line. Some years later he returned to
New York and there his death occurred in 1894. He was the father
of seven children, of whom four survive at this time. During his
life Francis Dengler Avas known* as a model citizen, honorable in
all his dealings and possessed of many warm friends among his
adopted countrymen. He was well posted in public affairs, took
a keen and intelligent interest in the success of the Democratic
party, and was a Catholic in his religious faith.

John Dengler attended the public and parochial schools of his
native land, and continued his studies for a short period after being
brought to the United States. When he was twelve years of age he
began assisting his father in conducting his shoe store, but eventu-
ally became apprenticed to the trade of cigar maker, which he fol-
lowed in various parts of the country during the succeeding years,
until 1880, that year seeing his advent in Wisconsin. Accepting a
position as foreman in the cigar factory of John Pampanin, at
La Crosse, he continued as such until 1884, when he accepted a similar
position with Scott Brothers, and in the following year became pro-
prietor of their establishment. A shrewd and capable business man,
thoroughly conversant wnth every detail of his calling, he had soon
built up a trade that extended all over the State, and in 1909 the con-
cern was incorporated, under the corporate name of John Dengler
Cigar and Tobacco Company. A full line of domestic and Havana
cigars are manufactured in the company's large factory at La Crosse,
and the famous ''Winneshiek" and "J. D. Frontier" cigars are
shipped to all parts of the United States. As the directing head of
this great enterprise, Mr. Dengler has displayed acumen, foresight
and executive ability of a high order, and the confidence in which he
is held by his associates is evidence of the position he occupies in
commercial circles of La Crosse. He has not confined his activities
to his operations along this line, however, for his business interests
are many, and he is looked to for counsel, support and leadership
in a number of the city's prominent industries.

Mr. Dengler has always been a stanch advocate of Republican
principles and policies, and for a number of years has been prominent

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1655

in the activities of his party in western Wisconsin. He was first
elected mayor of La Crosse in 1889, serving in that office until 1891,
and subsequently served three consecutive terms, or fourteen years,
in the capacity of police and fire commissioner. In 1911 he again
became the candidate of his party for the office of mayor, received
the subsequent election, and acted in the capacity of chief executive
until April 13, 1913, when he went out of office. To his official duties
he brought the same close application, the same conscientious attention
to detail, that characterized his business career and made it so suc-
cessful. He gave the city a clean, sane, business-like administration
which was marked by numerous municipal reforms. He has friends
in all political parties, and his popularity is universal. Mayor
Dengler is a member, consistent attendant and liberal supporter of
the Catholic Church. His fraternal connections include the Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus,
and socially he belongs to the German Society, the Frohsinn Singing
Society, the German Central Society and the Third Ward Aid Society.
On June 7, 1893, Mr. Dengler was married to Miss Louisa Ver-
vatt, whose parents were natives of Holland, and one son has been
born to this union : John D., who is now deceased.

C. W. Stange. Among the early residents of Merrill who have
attained success and prosperity is C. W. Stange. A native of Ger-
many, he has spent practically all of his life in this country, having
been brought here as a mere babe. Mr. Stange has lived in Merrill
since 1882, and has spent these years in hard work and conscientious
attention to his business. That he has succeeded has been due entirely
to his own efforts and he deserves much credit for his success. He
is now the proprietor of a successful establishment, dealing in paints
and oils and similar commodities, having conducted this business
since 1906.

C. W. Stange was born in Germany, on the 28th of January, 1857,
and when he was two months old his parents came to America. They
located in Watertown, Wisconsin, and here Mr. Stange grew up. He
attended the German Lutheran Parochial School in Watertown, and
received a fairly good education. When he was fifteen years of age
he left home and went to Racine where he entered the employ of a
sash and door factory, in which his brother, A. H. Stange, was fore-
man. The two brothers decided, in 1882, to come to Merrill, and here
Mr. Stange found employment with the late H. W. Wright, who
was operating a sash and door factory. He worked for Mr. Wright
for five years, acting as foreman during most of this time, and in
1887 he left the employ of Mr. Wright to enter that of his brother,
who had established a sash and door factory in Merrill. He remained

1656 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

in the employ of the A. H. Stange Lumber Company until 1906, when
he purchased his present business.

This business was established by J. D. Stewart in 1886, and when
Mr. Stange bought it, C. W. Howard was the owner. Mr. Stange owns
the building at 413 West Main street in which his business is located
and he deals in paints, oils, wall paper, coal, cement, lime and similar
products, and has built up a flourishing business.

Mr. Stange was married in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1878, to Miss
Mary M. Mitchell, a daughter of the late John ]\Iitchell, of Racine.
Mrs. Stange was born in Germany, but was brought to this country
by her parents when she was only eleven years of age. Mr. and Mrs.
Stange have become the parents of four children. The eldest, August
W., was born in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1880, grew up in Merrill and is
now engaged in assisting his father in the management of the paint
store. He married Miss Helen Kowlowski, of Junction City, Wisconsin,
and they have one child, Clarence. The three other children in the
Stange family are George, Ida and Lee. Mr. and Mrs. Stange are both
members of the Evangelical Lutheran church.

William J. Ebert. One of the names justly celebrated throughout
the Wisconsin Valley is that of William J. Ebert, for he was one of
the very early pioneers of this region, coming here when the country
was practically one great forest. He now makes his home in Merrill,
Wisconsin, where he is the senior member of a prominent and success-
ful general mercantile firm. Mr. Ebert is of German birth and the
traits of his nationality show strongly. His sturdy fight for success,
his willingness to work, his patience under difficulties, all are char-
acteristics inherited from a long line of German ancestors. He came
to this country as a boy and has made his success entirely through his
own efforts, and although the struggle was a hard one for many years
he won by his own efforts and his own strength of character for he
was without money or friends upon his arrival in this country.

William J. Ebert was born in Germany on the 23rd of July, 1837.
He was left fatherless early in life, his father dying when he was a
child of five. He lived in Germany until he was nineteen years of age
and then in company with his mother he set sail for America. It
was a strange experience to the young German boy for he spoke little
English and the country was bewilderingly different from his father-
land. However he succeeded in making his way to Watertown, Wis-
consin, reaching the place in August, 1856. He remained there for a
year and then, in 1857, came to Marathon county, Wisconsin, where
he located on a farm near the town of Berlin. At the time the country
was heavily timbered, and there are many people living who know
what a task the clearance of such a farm as the one which ]\Ir. Ebert
located, must have been. Although just a youth he was undeterred

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1657

by the enormity of the task aud forthwith started in to clear his land.
Later he built a fine house, replacing the cabin which he first lived in,
and he also built big barns and other farm buildings, improving his
place from year to year until he had made it one of the fimest farms
in the county. He owned a tract of 280 acres aud here on this farm
he lived for about forty years. His son, August Ebert, now lives on the
old place.

The only break in his prosperous farming career was when the Civil
war broke out and the call to arms was issued. Although Mr. Ebert
had not been in this country very long, he had become thoroughly
imbued with a love for the nation, and like most Germans was a good
soldier, in consequence of which he enlisted in the army. He served
for eight months as a soldier in Company "B," of the Seventeenth
Volunteer Infantry of Wisconsin, being in General Sherman's com-
mand and one of the men who made the famous march from Atlanta
to the sea. He was a participant in the Grand Review in Washington
at the close of the war.

It was in 1897 that Mr. Ebert left his farm and came to Merrill to
live. Here he opened a general mercantile establishment at 407-409-411
Grand Avenue, the firm being known as W. J. Ebert and Sons, and he
has been in this business ever since, meeting with much success. Among
his other business interests he is a stock holder in the Merrill Veneer
Company and he is also a stockholder in the Lincoln County Bank.

Mr. Ebert was married on the 10th of March, 1863, to Miss Amelia
BarteU, a native of Germany. On the anniversary of their wedding
day in 1913, their golden wedding, they celebrated the occasion by a
splendid banquet given at the Badger Hotel in Merrill at which one
hundred and twenty-five relatives and friends sat around the board.
Among them were nine of the children of the host and hostess and the
occasion will long be remembered not only because it was unique, but
because of the spirit of love and friendship that emanated from the
venerable couple who had spent so many years together.

Mr. and Mrs. Ebert have become the parents of thirteen children,
and of this large family only one is dead, and all those living are
married. The eldest, John, was born and reared on the farm in Mara-
thon county and is now with his father in business. Minnie is the
widow of Ernst Hoffman. Annie died at the age of twenty years.
Henry is living in California. August makes his home on the old farm.
Otto also lives in California. Bertha married Robert Zamzow and lives
in California. Theodore is in the store with his father and brother.
Ida became the wife of Paul Dumdie and lives on a farm in IMarathon
county, Wisconsin. William lives in Merrill. Emma married Ernst
Hoeckendorf and makes her home in California. Clara is ]\Irs. Albert
Ralard of New ^Mexico. Herman, the youngest, is in Merrill. Mr.
and Mrs. Ebert have thirty grandchildren. In a short time Mr. Ebert

1658 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

aud his wife will move to Santa Cruz, California, to spend their remain-
ing days.

Frederick J. Smith. In the allotment of her personal gifts, nature,
however generous, seldom confers upon one individual superior excel-
lence in more than one line of endeavor. The qualities that go to
make up the successful lawyer seldom make for eminence in the field
of finance; the prominent banker is not always he who wins prosperity
in the marts of commerce and trade; the courtesy and refinement which
make one a leader in social life may unfit him for the stern conflicts
which business requires of its votaries. Yet, in the character of Fred-
erick J. Smith, of Merrill, Wisconsin, are found in rare proportions,
all of these elements. In the course of his active and diversified life
he has shown himself an able lawyer, a successful business man, a finan-
cier whose judgment and foresight have gained him the confidence of
bankers all over the state, and a useful aud genial member of social
circles.

Frederick J. Smith was born at Mansion, Juneau county, Wisconsin,
January 7, 1870, and is a son of S. W. and Jane E. Smith. His early
education was acquired in the country schools in the vicinity of Maus-
ton, where he was subsequently graduated from the high school of
that place, and then entered the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Normal School.
He completed his schooling in the law department of the University of
Wisconsin, at Madison, and immediately after his graduation therefrom,
in 1896, came to Merrill. After his admission to the bar, he formed a
professional partnership with Hon. George Curtis, Jr., and Judge A.
H. Reid, under the firm style of Curtis, Reid & Smith, a connection that
continued until 1901, when Mr. Curtis was appointed to membership
on the State Tax Commission. Succeeding this, Mr. Smith, with Judge
Reid and A. T. Curtis, established what was considered one of the
strong legal connections of Lincoln county, but this firm was dis-
solved in 1907, and until 1909, Mr. Smith was engaged in practice
alone. In that year his brother, A. H. Smith, who had been connected
with the legal department of the Great Northern Railway, at St. Paul,
Minnesota, came to Merrill, and the present firm of F. J. & A. H.
Smith was formed. This combination has beconie recognized as one
than which there is no better exemplar of the restless, yet substantial
ability and the never-failing resourcefulness of the rising lawyer of
today. Both of these brothers have been prominent in public life, A. H.
Smith being district attorney of Lincoln county, while Frederick J.
Smith is city attorney of Merrill.

Frederick J. Smith is president of the Lincoln County Agricultural
Society, and the owner of extensive farming lands in this region. His
business connections include the presidency of the Smith Hardwood
Lumber Company and a directorship in the Merrill Publishing Com-

^U.J^. ^

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1659

pany, publishers of the Merrill Daily Herald. Since 1908 he has been
president of the German-American State Bank of Merrill, and through
his wise management, sound judgment and keen foresight has made this
one of the most substantial banking institutions of Northern Wisconsin.
He is popular in social circles of the city, and is connected fraternally
with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America.

In 1900 Mr. Smith was married to Miss Ella Spring of ^Merrill daugh-
ter of Larett Spring, and they^have one child, Evelyn.

Theodore J. Meyees. At the time of his death on November 13,
1903, Theodore J. Meyers was regarded as one of the wealthy men in
Kenosha. His accumulations represented the result of a splendid
integrit}', and a business judgment which was almost unique in its
sureness. Those who are acquainted with the city's growth, are
familiar with the many monuments to Mr. Meyers' enterprise. He did
a great deal of building and development in the city, and his public
spirit often led him to undertake improvements which were as much,
if not more, in behalf of general welfare than for his personal advan-
tage. Kenosha lost one of its ablest citizens in the death of Mr.
Meyers.

His birth occurred at the little village of Somers in Kenosha
county, November 13, 1850. He had only a common school education
in the city of Kenosha, and at an early age took up the practical work
of life. He was the first man in Kenosha, to establish a contract team-
ing business, and developed that to prosperous proportions before
he sold at the end of eight years. Soon after he married he and his
wife opened a hotel known as the City Hotel, and that was operated
successfully under their joint enterprise for nineteen years. In the
meantime Mr. Meyers had made himself a factor in public affairs. He
served as deputy sheriff, and afterwards was honored with election
to the office of sheriff of Kenosha county for one term. On retiring
from the sheriff's office, Mr. Meyers engaged in the livery business,
and offered exceptional facilities in that line for many years. In
fact he continued the business until the time of his death, although
many other enterprises took much of his attention.

There are a large number of building both private and business in
Kenosha, which were erected during the lifetime of Mr. Meyers. One
of the largest of these is likewise the most conspicuous structure in
the business histor^^ known as the Meyers Block and now known
as the Public Service Building. His investments were in various
fields, and he owned several farms, and engaged extensively in stock
raising. It was Mr. Meyers who originated the City Heating Plant,
and he also planned the site for the Ncav Post Office at Kenosha. At

1660 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

the time of his death his real estate holdings alone appraised the sum
of about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Mr. Meyers was a man who early assumed the serious responsi-
bilities of life, and at the age of twenty years was married. His wife
before her marriage was Miss Anna C. Klinkhammer of Kenosha.
She came from Germany with her parents when eight years old, locat-
ing first at Somers, and later at Kenosha. Mr. and Mrs. Meyers
became the parents of five children, two being deceased, Frederick
C. and Abbie. Those living in Kenosha are Louise F., Gertrude A.,
and Charles A. The family are members of the Catholic church, to
the work and activities of which the late Mr. Meyers contributed
generously during his lifetime, and he also subscribed a generous sum
to the prosecution of charitable work of various kinds. In politics
he was a strong Democrat, and was a man of such leadership as to
make his influence felt in many directions in this city, where his
memory is kindly cherished.

Carl Zollmann. Junior member of the prominent law firm of
Smith & Zollmann at Merrill, in Lincoln county, Carl Zollmann has
practiced his profession in this city since. 1911. The firm of Smith
& Zollmann has as its senior member Hon. Ralph E. Smith, president
of the Wisconsin State Board of Control. Mr. Zollmann is a vigorous
and enterprising young man who has spent most of his career in
Wisconsin, had some experience in colonization work, and finally took
up the law, and since his graduation from the State University has
made an excellent record in his profession.

Carl Zollmann was born at Wellsville, New York, November 14,
1879, a son of Rev. Carl and Catherine (Melcher) Zollmann. About
a year after the birth of Carl, his parents moved to Boston, Massa-
chusetts, and after a year and a half, in 1883 went to Southeastern
Indiana, locating about ten miles, from Lawrenceburg. The father
w^as a minister of the German Lutheran Church and is still living, with
his home at Horicon, Wisconsin. The family home was in southern
Indiana throughout the years while Carl was growing to young man-
hood, and in that time he attended the Lutheran parochial schools.
Afterwards he was a student in the Concordia College at Fort Wajaie,
Indiana, and also Concordia College of Springfield, Illinois. While he
was attending college his parents moved from southeastern Indiana
to Wisconsin. For four years after his graduation he was a resident
of Iowa, spending part of the time at Davenport and part of it at
Williamsburg. He then joined the family in Wisconsin, and for one
year was employed by the Evangelical Lutheran Colonization Com-
pany, both in the office and on the sales force.

His ambition being for the law, he entered the law department
of the University of Wisconsin, at Madison, where he was graduated

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1661

LL. B. in 1909. In the same yeai* he was admitted to the bar, and
got his first experience in the law oiSces of Olin & Butler, in ^ladison.
During the next year he was an editorial writer for the Callaghan
Company, publishers of law books in Chicago. There is perhaps no
better training for legal scholarship than work with such a company,
and the year of his work with one of the leading Madison law firms
and the year he spent with the publishing house gave him exceptional
equipment for his practice. He then came to Merrill, and his ability
has been an important factor in the success of the firm of Smith &
Zollmann. Mr. Zollmann is unmarried. He is a member of the Evan-
gelical Lutheran Church of Merrill.

A. H. Smith. The present district attorney of Lincoln county, ^Ir.
A. H. Smith, is junior member of the law firm of F. J. & A. H. Smith,
a combination which in the popular judgment is regarded as the lead-
ing law partnership of Lincoln county. Both members have been for
many years active in the profession, have been associated with a great
volume and important interests and individual cases, and by experi-
ence and ability hold a strong position in the bar of the state.

A. H. Smith was first appointed to the office of district attorney
at Lincoln county, in March, 1911, succeeding Ralph E. Smith, who had
been elected to the office of district attorney, but in the meantime was
appointed a member of the board of control, the duties of the latter
position not allowing him to prosecute his work as district attorney.
In the fall of 1912, Mr. A. H. Smith was regularly elected to the office
of district attorney on the Republican ticket, being one of the few
Republicans elected at that time.

Mr. Smith, who has been a resident of Merrill since 1909, was born
on a farm near Mauston, Wisconsin, June 16, 1870. His father was
Samuel W. Smith, a leading farmer in his locality. The son grew up
on the home farm near Mauston, had the school advantages afforded
by the district schools, and afterwards entered the law department of
the [Jniversity of Wisconsin at Madison, where he was graduated
LL. B. in 1896. In the same year he was admitted to the bar, and began
practice at Sparta, which was his home until 1905. He then went out
to St. Paul, Minnesota, where until 1909 he was connected with the
legal department of the Great Northern Railroad, acting as assistant
right of way and tax commissioner. Resigning that office he returned
to Wisconsin, located in Merrill, and very soon afterwards was
appointed district attorney. He has been associated in practice here
for four years with his brother, F. J. Smith. Their offices are in the
German-American Bank Building, Mr. F. J. Smith being president
of that well-known financial institution. Among his other interests
in the city, Mr. A. H. Smith is president of the Merrill Publishing
Company, the company which publishes the Merrill Daily Herald.

1662 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

In 1905, Mr. Smith married Miss Marie Cholvin, of Monroe county,
Wisconsin. They are the parents of three children, Philip Walter,
Juliana Jane, and Dorothea Victoria. Mr. Smith is affiliated with the
Masonic Order, being a Knight Templar and Shriner, also with the
Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Robert L. Holt. One of the leading attorneys of AVaukesha and
the vice-president of the Farmers' State Bank of this city is Robert L.
Holt, who since 1897 has been professionally active here. Mr. Holt
is a native of Wisconsin, the adopted home of his parents, Orlando
Holt and Louisa Jackson Holt, who were originally of Vermont.
Orlando Holt had come to Wisconsin in the forties, had become the
owner of two hundred acres of land in Racine county and had occupied
and tilled his farm until 1849. In that year he joined others who were
seeking the mysterious land of wealth which California was believed
to be. In a prairie schooner Orlando Holt traveled overland until
he reached the great mining state of that period. He spent three years
in experimenting among gold mines, real and fictitious, eventually
returning to Racine county, quite rich in experience, although like
many others he had brought considerably less material gain. Like
many of his fellow miners, he had come to the conclusion that the sure
and steady wealth of our country — or any other — is in the agricultural
resources which never deceive and seldom disappoint the seeker. In
Racine county he married Miss Jackson and there they lived and
reared their family. Of the latter only Robert Holt now survives.
His mother passed from this life in 1886 and his father in 1887.
Orlando Holt was a man of marked individuality and of very sturdy
opinions. A Republican of emphatic views, he was a strong anti-
slavery man of the radical abolitionist type. He was a member of the
Baptist church, and his fraternal affiliation was with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows.

On the rural property of Orlando and Louisa Holt was born on
July 4, 1873, the son whom they named Robert L. His general edu-
cation, began in the public schools of his native community, was con-
tinued in Rochester Academy and Carrol College, and he pursued
his literary course in the University of Wisconsin and graduated with
the class of 1895. He then entered upon a period of intensive prep-
aration for the profession which he had chosen at the Northwestern
University at Evanston, Illinois.

Young Robert Holt pursued a thorough course in the different
branches of the legal curriculum, and received the degree of Bachelor
of Laws.

In 1897 Mr. Holt entered upon his practice as a barrister, having
chosen Waukesha as the field for his career. He became a partner
of two other Waukesha lawyers, the firm name being Pierce, Doubner

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1663

and Holt. This association continued for three years. When it was
dissolved in 1900, Mr. Holt formed a similar connection with Albert N.
Coombs, as senior partner of the firm of Holt & Coombs. This part-
nership still continues and both lawyers have done important work
as representatives of the bar in Waukesha. Their handsome suite of
offices above the Farmers' Bank Building is sought by many clients
in search of competent legal advice or support.

Aside from his law business Mr. Holt has commercial interests of
importance, chief among which is his connection with the Farmers'
State Bank of Waukesha, of which he is vice president. He is also
vice-president of the Hoag Elevator Company and the Rickert Mer-
cantile Company. Politically he is a progressive Republican. His
social affiliations are numerous, including his membership in the col-
legiate secret societies of Phi Gamma Delta (University of Wisconsin)
and Delta Chi legal fraternity. He is also a member of the Masonic
order: the Knights of Pythias; the United Order of Foresters; the
Royal League; the Woodmen of the World; and the Equitable Fra-
ternal Union. He also belongs to the Commercial Law League of
America; to the Waukesha Bar Association; and to the Waukesha
Business Men's Club.

The marriage of Mr. Holt occui'red on June 20, 1896. Mrs. Holt,
nee Leda Crocker, is a daughter of an Indiana family. Three children
have come to complete the Holt household and bear the Christian
names of Orlando, Louise and Donna Marie.

So vigorous is Mr. Holt's personality and so high the quality of
his executive ability that further and yet more conspicuous successes
are predicted for him. His chief aim, however, is to perform thor-
oughly and accurately the tasks which he undertakes; wide and
exhaustive research, conscientious attention to detail, determined
application of all resources at hand leading to the desired end — these
are among the notable qualities that have given him his enviable stand-
ing as at attorney.

]\I. P. McLaughlin. Among the men of Merrill, Wisconsin, who
have made their success in the lumber business, is M. P. McLaughlin.
Beginning life as a common laborer he received steady promotion for
efficiency and a close attention to his work, which eventually placed him
in a position of responsibility. Mr. McLaughlin is now engaged in
buying and selling timber lands and cut over farm lands.

M. P. McLaughlin was born in Quebec, Canada, on the 15th of
February, 1870, the son of John and Mary (Hartary) McLaughlin.
John McLaughlin was a farmer and spent his entire life on his Cana-
dian farm, where both he and his wife died. M. P. McLaughlin Avas
born and reared on his father's farm. He left home at the age of
twenty, in the fall of the year 1870, and came to the Upper ^Michigan

1664 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Peninsula and for a time worked in the timber forests. He then went
to Drummond, near Ashland, Wisconsin, where he worked in the woods
one winter. His next move took him to Eau Claire and he spent six
months studying in a business college in the latter city. During the
following winter he went into the woods again and then came to
Merrill, Wisconsin, where he has made his home ever since.

It was in 1893 that Mr. McLaughlin located in Merrill, accepting a
position with the old Golkey-Anson Company, a concern which manu-
factured boxes. He was destined to remain with this firm for seventeen
years, and his tirst position was as a common laborer. He spent a
year in this position and was then promoted to the work of scaling
the logs. His next promotion took him into the office and then he
was sent on the road as a buyer of timber and logs, and during
these years he was also at one period foreman of the mill. Two years
of the time since he came to live in Merrill have been spent away from
the city, one when he was in charge of the Grand Rapids Lumber Com-
pany's plant in Grand Rapids, INIichigan, and the second in which he
was in Malvern, Arkansas, where he was in charge of the plant of the
Wisconsin-Arkansas Lumber Company. He is now in business for him-
self in Merrill, his offices being located on East Main street. He has
been engaged in this business for a year and a half, and his long and
practical experience in the lumber work has well prepared him for
just this kind of business.

Mr. McLaughlin is a stockholder in the National Bank of Merrill
and is also a stockholder in the Minneapolis, Merrill and Marinette
Railway Company. In religious matters he is a communicant of the
Roman Catholic church. In the fraternal world he belongs to the
Knights of Columbus and is a Forester.

In August, 1899, Mr. IMcLaughlin was married to Miss Mary Conway,
of Quebec, Canada. They have three children, William Carrell, John
Elmer and Veronica.

Niels A. Christensen. To this well known citizen and manufac-
turer of Milwaukee belongs the distinction of having been the pioneer
inventor of the first and only successful air-brake now universally used
on practically all electrically propelled cars and trains operating on
the third-rail principle. In a large technical world his name is almost
as familiar as those of other inventors in the field of applied mechanics,
and the following article is designed to present as clearly as non-
technical language can his career and his accomplishments.

Niels Anton Christensen was born in Toerring, Jutland, Denmark,
August 16, 1865. Toerring is about two miles from Jelling, the birth
place of Canute, the great King of England. The Christensen family
is one of the oldest in Denmark, and its members have lived on the
same estate for more than three hundred years. His father. Christen

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1665

Jensen, was born at Toerring, February 5, 1829, and is still living as a
country gentleman on the family estate. He had a public school
education, is a Lutheran in religion, a Royalist in politics, and served
as an officer in the Danish army during the Slesvig-Holstein war
between Germany and Austria in 1849-50, and in 1864-65, partici-
pating at the battle of Itzeho, Dyboel, Slesvig, and in others. Christen
Jensen married Ane Marie Nielsen, who was born May 15, 1834, at
Tudvad, Jutland, Denmark, of ancient lineage. Her father was a
country gentleman, and army officer, having served his king during
the Napoleonic disturbances in the first years of the nineteenth cen-
tury. She died November 15, 1876, at the family estate in Toerring.

Niels A. Christensen is a practical machinist as well as a mechani-
cal engineer and naval constructor. As a boy he was always tinker-
ing with mechanics in the blacksmith and wheelwright shops on his
father's estate in Denmark, and hardly ever played with other boys,
in the ordinary pastimes. He made elaborate toys for himself and
companions in the shape of windmills, waterwheels, steam engines
and electrical apparatus, which were spoken of far and wide at the
country side. One of his windmills was on a scale large enough to
produce considerable power, and a novel endless rope transmission
was used, which he afterwards found to conform exactly in principle
to that method of transmission generally used in large cotton mills
and places in which steam engines were employed previous to the
installation of electrical power.

At the age of fourteen he began an apprenticeship, and at the
age of eighteen graduated as a journeyman machinist and pattern
maker. In the meantime he attended evening school both in summer
and winter, and on finishing his appenticeship possessed an almost
complete scientific knowledge in mathematics and applied mechanics.
He was afterwards employed in the Royal Danish Navy, and gradu-
ated as a constructor and naval machinist at the age of twenty-one.
During this time he worked out drawings and details of the machinery
for the then up-to-date fast cruiser, the Valkyrien of the Royal Dan-
ish Navy. This ship in later history was the first to arrive at Mar-
tinique after the terrible catastrophe caused by the eruption of Mt.
Pelee. After finishing his examination in the Navy Department, and
service, he obtained leave of absence with a money prize granted by
the Minister of the Interior to students, who had shown marked
efficiency, both in theory and practice, this prize being employed to
pay his expenses while traveling abroad in search of further knowl-
edge. He went to England and took a position as third assistant engi-
neer on a large steamer engaged in the Mediterranean and Black Sea
trade. Returning to London on that ship some months later, he
attained a position as designer with one of the large English engi-
neering works, engaged in marine engineering and the manufacture

1666 HISTORY OF WISCONSJN

of cotton machinery, hydraulic machinery, sugar machinery, water
works machinery and other diversified lines. In that position he had
charge of the machinery and layout for the new water works for the
city of Calcutta, India, and subsequently engaged in the work of
developing apparatus for commercializing and concentrating nitrate
of soda from the large beds in Chile, South America, owned by Col.
North. Before leaving that great industry he gained valuable expe-
rience in all the departments of machinery manufactured by the firm.

Mr. Christensen came to America and located in 1891 in Chicago,
where he joined the firm of Frazer & Chalmers, manufacturers of
engines, mining and other machinery, first as designer and later as
commercial correspondent and selling engineer. It was in 1892 that
Mr. Christensen designed and patented his first air-brake, as a result
of having witnessed a fatal accident on one of the electric cars in
the suburb of Oak Park, Chicago, that being the first electric railway
in that part of the country. The financial panic of 1893 i^resented no
tangible progress in getting the air-brake reduced to practice so that
the public might receive the benefit of a safety appliance very sorely
needed. In 1893 Mr. Christensen left the firm of Fraser and Chalmers,
and after that worked on apparatus to be used for dredging and exca-
vating the drainage canal, but the company which had started to
build a special line of machinery for that purpose did not have suffi-
cient funds to complete the work.

Mr. Christensen came to Milwaukee in the summer of 1894, for
the firm of Edward P. Allis Company as assistant to the superin-
tendent, who was one of the famous engineers of the old school.
In that capacity he had charge of power-house construction and
blowing engines. He developed a new type of blowing engine, which
is now universally used in all the great steel mills of the United
States and many of them abroad. These blowing engines which were
a decided departure from anything at that time known and used,
obviated many of the drawbacks and uncertainties of blast and
Bessemer furnace operations wherein the air compressers or blow-
ing engines had up to that time been the M^eak link.

The Christensen air-brake was first reduced to practice in April,
1893, on two of the cars on the Jefferson Avenue line at Detroit,
Michigan. They were pronounced a success. The tests were car-
ried out under the auspices of the officials of the Citizens Street Rail-
way Company of Detroit, but in spite of this success and unqualified
indorsement no money to finance the company for the manufacture of
the brake could be raised on account of the financial condition of the
country.

Mr. Christensen thus continued working for the Edward P. Allis
Company until February, 1896. During the preceeding years, two
cars had been equipped with the Christensen air-brake on the Mil-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1667

waukee Street Railway System. This was a preliminary step in a
plan to put the air brakes on the market, allowing the severest opportu-
nities for testing the apparatus through a period of many months.
The tests were eminently satisfactory, and the first Christensen Engi-
neering company was formed in the early part of 1897. In the
meantime a large amount of preliminary work was done in the way
of test equipment and some actual orders had been secured and filled.

In August, 1897, after four other companies, including one of the
largest companies which theretofore had been engaged in manu-
facturing air brakes for steam railway cars only, had failed to supply
even satisfactory test apparatus for the South Side Elevated Rail-
road of Chicago, the contract for the entire air brake system was
awarded to the Christensen Engineering Company. This contract
was awarded, not on the strength of the actual test of the apparatus
put on cars for that line, but on account of the splendid showing the
apparatus had made on some test cars on the Metropolitan Elevated
Railroad Companj^, Avhich was the first electric heavy-train service
in Chicago. The air-brake apparatus for the Metropolitan Company
had previously been supplied by another air-brake company, but it
was not satisfactory and was subsequently replaced by the Christen-
sen apparatus. The problems in connection with the service on the
cars of the South Side Elevated Railroad were exceptionally severe,
since they involved pioneer work in the true sense of the term. The
system of propelling the cars was new in that each car in the train
was in itself a completely equipped motor car, and capable of inde-
pendent operation under what was known as the "multiple unit
system. ' ' When the unit motor cars were coupled together in a train,
the whole train of motors operated as a unit, being controlled
from one point, namely the driver's cab in front. The electric
part of the propelling equipment was worked out by Mr. Frank J.
Sprague, one of the pioneers in electric railway traction. The air
brake equipment to meet this kind of service was worked out by
N. A. Christensen and was the foundation for the permanent suc-
cess of the Christensen apparatus. Some of the incidents and experi-
ences in that pioneer era of electric railway work would foi-ui an
entertaining volume. The fame of the apparatus spread far and
wide, though of course it was appreciated by those interested m
technical matters, and the average person riding on such a train had
not the faintest idea of the intricacies which it had been necessary to
master in order to provide the service.

Subsequently the Christensen air brake came to be recognized as
the necessary equipment on all first-class modern electric railway,
whether in the city, suburb or interurban. As a result of his experi-
ment and invention, there is practically no limit to the weight of a
car or train nor to its speed, since the brake keeps under perfect

1668 . HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

control the heaviest as well as the lightest train. Thus a new era
was opened in the development of electric traction, since up to that
time speed and weight had been limited because of the difficulty of
controlling the cars by hand brakes or by the unreliable electric brake
which had been advocated and put on cars by the companies making
electric railway apparatus. The Christensen apparatus in time super-
seded all other forms of brakes. The last electric brakes on any
large scale were replaced by the Christensen appliances for the Pan
American service on the Buffalo and International Railroad at Buffalo,
New York in 1901. Something like five hundred sets of electric
brakes were removed from the cars, and a like amount of Christen-
sen apparatus put in their place.

The business from the summer of 1897 grew in leaps and bounds
and when the large electric manufacturing companies realized that
the air brake as developed by N. A. Christensen was the only practical
and safe device used, they discontinued selling electric brake appa-
ratus, except in cases where they themselves financed the railway
companies.

As has been true in so many cases, history repeated itself. The
Christensen Engineering Companj' had a hard and constant fight to
prevent infringement of its patent, and had to contest every inch
of its progress against the great companies manufacturing other elec-
tric apparatus. But in spite of the influence of great capital and of
shrewd, if not treacherous, business and legal methods, the Christen-
sen apparatus in time became recognized as the standard in all parts
of the civilized country where electric traction is used. The Chris-
tensen appliances were adopted as a standard by the government
tramways of Sydney, N. S. W. and other Australian cities. It was
adopted as a standard on the surface and underground lines of Paris,
France, and many other French cities. It was adopted on nearly all
the electric railways of Italy, and some in Germany, Norway, Sweden,
Russia, Canada, Mexico, South American republics, China, Japan,
South Africa, and of course, in England, where the entire system of
the Metropolitan underground and other underground electric roads
were equipped with Christensen apparatus.

This splendid prosperity turned the heads of the stockholders of
the Christensen Engineering Company. Mr. Christensen himself was
not a stockholder, his patents being licensed on a royalty basis to the
company. Manufacturing facilities had been created to accommo-
date the large rush of orders, which from a beginning of nothing in
1897 had gradually increased until in 1902 the annual business
amounted to $1,300,000.00. Mr. Christensen had no voice in the
.management of the company, being occupied entirely in keeping the
manufacturing facilities and the quality of the product up to the
very highest standard. When the new works were finished in 1901

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1669

the stockholders decided arbitrarily to go iuto the general electric
field in competition with companies which had been in the business
for many years and which had unlimited means and resources, both
financially and otherwise. In spite of the pleadings of Mr. Christen-
sen that the policy was obviously suicidal, his advice was not heeded.
At this juncture Mr. Christensen resigned as general superintendent
of the Christensen Engineering Company on September 1, 1902. The
business was then reorganized as the National Electric Company.
Mr. Christensen 's prevision was to a large extent correct. The
principal stockholder of the new company in 1905, at that time presi-
dent of a Milwaukee bank, was found to be involved in financial diffi-
culties, which led to the appointment of a receiver for the National
Electric Company, though the company itself was still solvent and
in a fairly good financial state. At the bankruptcy sale the assets
were bought by one of the companies which had been trying for
many years to drive the pioneer Christensen air-brake out of busi-
ness by underselling, by infringing and other notorious methods.
When this company failed to make an arrangement for the legiti-
mate use of the Christiansen air-brake patents, of Avhich there were
something like sixty to sixty-five in number, a license agreement was
made with the Allis-Chalmers Company for the manufacture of the
Christensen apparatus. The company, which bought the assets of
the National Electric Company proceeded to manufacture and mar-
ket the air brake apparatus as deliberately and openly as if the
Christensen patents had never existed. The infringement proceed-
ings which were instituted against this illegal use of patent rights
are still pending in the courts. Similar proceedings were brought
against the branches of the same aggregation and judgment obtained
in the courts of Italy under the Italian patents on the Christensen
air brake and in the courts of France under the French patents.

During 1907 Mr. Christensen engaged in the manufacture of gas
and gasoline engines and is now operating a company known as the
Christensen Engineering Company of Milwaukee. During the last
two years he has developed a thoroughly reliable and practical self-
starting apparatus for internal combustion engines, such as are used
in automobiles, motor boats and the like. This apparatus is founded on
new principles, not heretofore employed and bids fair to reach a suc-
cess similar to that accomplished by Mr. Christensen in the air brake
field.

Mr. Christensen is a staunch Republican and a public spirited citi-
zen of Milwaukee. He served on the Milwaukee Harbor Committee,
and made plans for the proposed outer ^Milwaukee harbor in 1899.
The present outlook is that those plans will be substantially realized.
A member of the English Lutheran church, he has assisted by money
donations, but otherwise has not been prominent in religious or char-

1670 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

itable affairs. In the Masonic Order he has taken all the degrees in
both the York and Scottish Rite except the Thirty-third. Mr. Chris-
teusen is a member of the Milwaukee Club, the Town Club of Mil-
waukee, and of the Royal Auto Club of London, England.

On August 19, 1894, Mr. Christeusen married Miss Mathilda Thom-
messen. Her parents were Eilert Hagerup and Oline (Borum) Thom-
messen, her father a landowner, ship owner, merchant and operator
of fishing expeditions. The family is one of the oldest noble families
in Norway, its founder having been knighted by one of the Danish
Kings in 1435 for exceptional courage and valor in saving the royal
person from murderous enemies while hunting in a dense forest. Mem-
bers of the family include many famous men, statesmen, authors,
navigators, military and navy officers, including Dr. Fridtjof Nansen,
the arctic explorer. Mrs. Christensen was educated in one of the
colleges at Nordland, Norway. To their marriage has been born one
child, Esther Marie Christensen, at Milwaukee, on May 10, 1895.

John N. Cotter. One of the pioneers of Lincoln county, Wisconsin,
and a man who is known not only in the section where he lives but all
over the state, is John N. Cotter. He has had a very active part in the
advancement and growth of the city of Merrill, and of the surrounding
region, not only through his commercial successes, but also through
his activity in civic and social work, and his broad-minded public-
spiritedness has always shown itself most strongly. Mr. Cotter, like so
many of the pioneers of this section, attained his worldly prosperity in
the forests and lumber yards, but his worldly success has never won for
him the popularity which his generosity, high-minded integrity and
love for his fellow men have brought to him.

John N. Cotter was born at Fort Covington, Franklin county, New
York on the 11th of April, 1847. His father was John Cotter and
his mother was Prue Nagle before her marriage. Both John Cotter
and his wife were natives of Ireland, the former being a tanner by
trade. They spent the greater share of their married life in New
York state, but late in life, many years after their son had come to
Wisconsin, they also came to this state and here they died. Both
of them lived to be over eighty years of age.

John N. Cotter spent his boyhood days in Fort Covington, New York,
where he attended the public schools. He left school at the age of six-
teen and started out for himself. His first work was in the lumbering
field, and for two winters and one summer he worked in the forests along
the Racket river, in the state of New York. He then went to Troy, New
York, where he remained for a year. His next move took him to Toledo,
Ohio, and he went thence to Erie, Pennsylvania. During this period,
being only a boy of eighteen or nineteen, without any trade, he worked
at whatever was offered to him, getting more good from traveling about

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1671

the country thau from any actual experience in any one form of work.
From Erie lie went to Titusville, Pennsylvania, and here he secured a
permanent position, working in the oil fields. He did not care for the
work, however, and shortly afterwards returned to New York state.

In the fall of 1867 he once more decided to go west, and on Decem-
ber 25, 1867, he arrived in Merrill, Wisconsin, or as it was then known,
Jenny, Wisconsin. It was then a little village, in the center of the
lumber region of the state, and the name was not changed from Jenny
to Merrill, until 1881, the year that the Chicago, Milwaukee and St.
Paul Railroad laid its tracks to the city. Then the town was christened
Merrill, in honor of S. S. Merrill, who was at that time the general
manager for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul.

Ever since coming to Merrill John Cotter, or Jack Cotter, as he is
widely known, has been identified, with ever increasing prominence,
with the lumber trade. He has become one of the most prominent men
in the lumber business in the Wisconsin valley and he started his career
in the woods near Merrill, as a "stump" man. From this humble posi-
tion he rose to one higher and so step by step until his ability gave him
a place as foreman. He was a man whom his employees invariably
recognized as one possessing courage and determination and a mastery
over men, such qualities in the lumber business bring rapid promotion.
In 1877 he was able to leave the employ of others and go into business
for himself. In company with the late James O'Connor, Mr. Cotter en-
tered the logging business, the firm being known as Cotter and O'Con-
nor. This firm continued to do business until shortly before Mr. O'Con-
nor's death, which occurred in 1885. When the partnership ceased, Mr.
Cotter bought Mr. O'Connor's interest and continued in the logging
business until 1911. At this time he practically closed up the business,
although he still does a little logging.

Although it is with logging and lumbering in its various phases that
Mr. Cotter has been most closely identified, he has taken an important
part in other enterprises in J\Ierrill. He was one of the promoters of
the Merrill Railway and Lighting Company, and has for many years
occupied the position which he holds at present, that of president of
this concern. The Merrill Railway and Lighting Company were among
the first street railways in the state of Wisconsin to operate an electric
street railway. He is a director of the Citizens National Bank of Mer-
rill and is also a director in the Grandfather Falls Company, the impor-
tant paper manufacturing concern which is located at Merrill. Mr.
Cotter is the owner of much valuable real estate, both in the city and
in the county. In company with L. N. Anson, he owns the Lincoln
Hotel of Merrill, one of the finest hotels in northern Wisconsin.

In politics Mr. Cotter is a member of the Democratic party, and he
has taken a prominent part in politics, not so much through his interest
in politics as through his interest in civic and social questions and his

1672 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

keen desire to improve and advance conditions in ]\Ierrill and in J Lincoln
county. He has served as mayor of Merrill for one term, taking office
in 1888, and he has been alderman of the city many times. He has
also served many terms as president of the Lincoln County Board of
Supervisors, and in this position has accomplished much work that has
been of incalculable benefit to the county. The greatest fight which
he has made in behalf of the citizens of Merrill has been to get a court
house and locate it in the position which it now occupies. He met with
much opposition but he was untiring and determined and the same ([uali-
ties which brought him personal success made him successful in this
instance. The courthouse is considered one of the very finest in
northern Wisconsin and is located on East Main street. Mr. Cotter was
a member of the Building Committee, and chairman of that committee
when the courthouse was in process of erection, and it Avill always
stand as a monument to his perseverance and courage in the face of
many difficulties. Although not an old man Mr. Cotter was a pioneer
of Merrill, and with few exceptions, he has been a resident of Merrill
longer than any other citizen. He and his family are all members of
the Roman Catholic church. In the fraternal world he is a member of
the Knights of Columbus and is a Grand Knight in the local chapter of
that order.

In 1885 Mr. Cotter was married to Miss Dora 0. Smith, who was
born in Jenny, now Merrill, Wisconsin. Mrs. Cotter is a daughter of
the late 0. B. Smith, who was one of the early pioneers of this section.
Mr. and Mrs. Cotter have four children, as follows: Prue, who is the
wife of Leon Avery, of Detroit, Michigan, and has one child, also named
Prue ; Dora A., who is married to F. C. Wise, of Thief Falls, Minnesota ;
John N., Jr., and Gordon.

Walter B. Chilsen. The power and influence of the journalists of
the country was never in evidence more than it is today, but men
are not as credulous as they have been in the past, on account of changed
conditions, therefore a successful editor or newspaper man must be
more than a brilliant writer. He must be a keen student of conditions,
civic and social as well as political, he must be a business man, a man
whom other men like, and one whom the general public can trust. A
man of this type is Walter B. Chilsen, managing editor of the Merrill
Daily Herald, of Merrill, Wisconsin. He has reached his present posi-
tion from a place at the very foot of the ladder, and years of experience
with every phase of newspaper work have prepared him for his work
as an editor of one of the most prominent papers in this section of the
state.

Walter B. Chilsen was born in Merrill, Wisconsin, on the 22nd of
June, 1885, the son of A. S. Chilsen. The latter was born in Bergen.
Norway, in 1853, and lost his mother at the time of his birth. Shortly

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1673

afterward his father, who was a ship owner, went clown with his ship
on the North Sea, as he was returning to Norway from Italy with a
heavily laden ship. Being thus made an orphan, at the age of a year
and a half, the baby was brought to America and was reared by rela-
tives in Dane county, Wisconsin. Here he grew up and learned the
trade of a mechanic. He later went to Wausau, Wisconsin, where he
lived for two or three years. In 1881 he removed to Merrill where he
became foreman of the round house of the Chicago, IMilwaukee and St.
Paul Railway Company. He held this position until he was injured in
1904 and since that time he has been retired, and now makes his home
in Merrill. Mr. Chilsen spent practically all of the years of his active
life as an employee of the Chicago, IMilwaukee and St. Paul Railroad
Company, for before he lived in Wausau he worked for this corporation
in Tomah, Wisconsin, and he was transferred by the company from
there to Wausau, and later, when the line was extended to Meri'iU, to
the latter place. ^Iv. Chilsen married Miss Alvina Nelson, of Newport,
Columbia county, Wisconsin. Mrs. Chilsen was born and reared and
married in Newport and for several years after their marriage they
lived in Columbia county, prior to their removal to Tomah.

Walter B. Chilsen grew up in Merrill and at the age of fifteen, in
1900, began his career in the newspaper world as a printer's "devil" in
the employ of the Merrill News, remaining with this paper for two years.
He then went to the Merrill Advocate, as a pressman in the composing
room where he was employed until 1905. He was an ambitious boy and
his ambition caused him to overwork and ill health that ensued forced
him to give up the newspaper work for a time. Eight months of out-
door life as a mail carrier enabled him to go back to the paper, and
he became a reporter on the Merrill Advocate. About a year later he
resigned this position and went to work for the Stubbs Construction
Company. He only remained with them for a short time before going
back into newspaper work again. This time, going into partnership
with a Mr. Johnson, under the firm name of Johnson and Chilsen, he
took over the management of the Merrill Herald. The two men ran
this paper from 1909 to 1913, when the Merrill Publishing Company
was organized, with A. H. Smith, president; F. J. Smith, vice-president;
W. B. Chilsen, secretary, and J. A. Chilsen, treasurer. All of these
men are members of the board of directors also. As managing editor
Mr. Chilsen 's influence over the policy of the paper is by no means
small, and the financial success of the paper has been greatly due to
his ability.

Mr. Chilsen is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Maccabees. In polities he is a
member of the Republican party.

1674 HISTORY OP WISCONSIN

Hon. Joseph S. Konkel. On April 3, 1912, when the citizens oi
Superior elected Joseph S. Konkel to the office of mayor, the commission
form of government, in the interests of which he had labored assiduously
for five years, went into effect. A champion of progress along all lines,
Mayor Konkel has made his influence felt in various ways since coming
to Superior in 1890, and in his executive capacity is giving the city a
clean, progressive and businesslike administration. He has been widely
known in newspaper circles, having been connected with several of Su-
perior's leading publications, but since assuming his official duties has
retired, at least temporarily, from journalism.

Joseph S. Konkel was born March 10, 1862, in Page county, Iowa,
and is a son of William and Anna (Beery) Konkel, natives of Pennsyl-
vania. His father spent his boyhood in Knox county, Ohio, and in
young manhood moved to Fairfax county, that state, where he M'as mar-
ried. In 1856 he went to Page county, Iowa, where he resided until
1870, and in that year moved to a farm in Crawford county, Kansas,
there dying in 1876, at the age of fifty-five years. He was a farmer by
occupation, was a minister in the Church of God, and a stalwart Demo-
crat in his political views. His widow survived him for a long period,
passing aAvay in 1906, when seventy-nine years of age. They were the
parents of fourteen children, of whom Joseph S. was the eleventh in
order of birth, and of these nine are still living.

The educational training of Joseph S. Konkel was secured in the
schools of Crawford county, Kansas, and on completing his studies he
was engaged in teaching there for about five years. He subsequently
removed to Boston, Colorado, where he followed the real estate business
with some degree of success, but returned to Lyons, Kansas, where he
received his introduction to the newspaper business, conducting the Cen-
tral Kansas Democrat for one year in partnership with his brother. At
the end of that period he came to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where for six
months he was connected as reporter and editor with the Daily Press,
and on December 25, 1890, came to Superior to attach himself to the
staff of the Daily Leader. In 1892 Mr. Konkel leased a job printing
office, and succeeding this established the Clarion, a weekly newspaper,
conducting both enterprises until 1903, in which year he merged the
Clarion with the Daily Leader, under the new name of the Leader-Clar-
ion, of which he was the publisher until April 15, 1912. At that time he
gave up his journalistic activities to devote his entire time to the duties
of the office of Superior's chief executive.

A stalwart Democrat in politics, for five years Mr. Konkel had been
a stanch supporter of the principles of the commission form of govern-
ment, under which the voter wields a greatly increased power, as he
casts his ballot for all the commissioners instead of for one or two
of a large number of aldermen, thus electing better men. Ample powers
are conferred upon the commission, in that it exercises not only the

HISTORY OP WISCONSIN 1675

usual ordinance making power, but also oversees the administrative de-
partments of the city and appoints the officers. Probably to Mayor
Konkel as much as to any other man is due the credit for the adoption
of this form of government, and it was but a just reward for his signal
services that he was elected to serve as the first mayor under the new
regime. His administration has been characterized by a number of
municipal reforms, he proving one of the most popular officials the
city has known. He is widely known in Odd Fellowship and is also
identified with other orders of a fraternal nature.

On April 3, 1888, Mr. Konkel was married to Miss Lydia A. Wilson,
who was born in Minnesota, and eleven children have been born to this
union, of whom ten are living: Grace, Fred, Joseph S., Jr., Frank,
Graham P., Otis K., Cecil G., Anna Olive, Edith E. and Jennie.

John R. Mathews. As mayor of the attractive little city of Me-
nomonie, Mr. Mathews has given a most progressive administration and
has been indefatigable in his efforts to advance the civic and material
interests of the community. He is not only one of the liberal and loyal
citizens of ]\Ienomonie, but is also one of the representative members of
the bar of Dunn county, and is a scion of a family that was founded in
Wisconsin in the early pioneer epoch of the state's history. A man
of high professional attainments, of inflexible integrity of purpose
and of broad and well fortified views, Mr. Mathews stands exemplar
of the most progressive citizenship and in his home city and county
his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances.

John R. Mathews was born in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, on
the 4th of December, 1849, and is a son of Andrew T. and Matilda A.
Mathews, who were numbered among the honored pioneers of that
section of the state and who continued their residence in Wisconsin
until the time of their death, the greater part of the active career
of the father having been devoted to farming. The present mayor
of Menomonie is indebted to the common schools of his native county
for his early educational discipline. In preparation for the profession
which his ambition had prompted him to adopt as his life work Mr.
Mathews entered the law department of the University of Wisconsin,
in Avhich he was graduated as a member of the class of 1878 and from
which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted
to the bar in the same year and his initial work in his profession was
not unmarked by the vicissitudes that attend the average tyro in
this exacting vocation. He engaged in practice at Menomonie and
has been a valued member of the bar of Dunn county since 1878,
when he established his residence in ]\Ienomonie, the judicial center
of the county. Here he has long controlled a substantial and repre-
sentative practice, the extent and nature of which offer the most
effective evidence of his sterling character and his ability as an

1676 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

advocate and counselor. He has been closely identified with the
development and progress of Menomonie, where his influence and
co-operation have been given to the furtherance of measures and
enterprises tending to advance the social and material welfare of
the community. He served as the first city clerk of Menomonie,
and for six years held the office of city attorney. His public services
proved so effective and loyal that he was naturally looked upon as
a most eligible candidate for the office of mayor, to which position he
was first elected in 1904. In 1910, after the adoption of the civic
form of municipal government, he was again called to the mayoralty,
and his aggregate term of service as chief executive has thus covered
a period of seven years at the time of this writing, in 1913, his present
term of office expiring in April, 1920. Service of equally zealous and
benignant order has >been rendered by Mr. Mathews as a member of
the board of education of his home city, and that popular apprecia-
tion has not been lacking is shown by the fact that he has contin-
uously held this position for the past twenty-three years — a period
within which has been compassed the advancement of Menomonie
to a secure vantage place as one of the prominent educational centers
of the state. In his profession Mr. Mathews has been concerned with
many of the most important litigations in the courts of this section
of the state, and he has at all times been an exponent of the highest
of ethical ideals in the work of his chosen calling, so that he has
gained and retained the unequivocal confidence and esteem of his
confreres at the bar of his native state.

Mr. Mathews was married in 1876 to Miss Mary J. Robertson.
They have four children : Nina V. ; Rena R. ; Leita W. ; and
John R., Jr.

Edgar P. Sawyer. A son of Hon. Philetus Sawyer, honored pio-
neer and distinguished citizen of Wisconsin, Edgar P. Sawyer has
well upheld the prestige of the name in Wisconsin. Succeeding his
father in a large measure in the conduct and management of a vast
business, Edgar P. Sawyer was called upon in his young manhood to
assume large and exacting responsibilities. To laj^ the foundation of
a fortune, to set in motion the wheels of industry, to establish the
agencies which promote progress and developments, — all these require
special type of genius. To care properly for a fortune already acquired,
to add to its legitimate increase, and to keep the wheels of industry in
motion requires also a fine business ability. For the pioneers and self-
made men of the northwest, the general public has always had a pro-
found admiration. In the sons of these sterling pioneers and empire
builders, the same public always feels a peculiar interest and observes
with pleasure the fact that an honored and useful citizen has been able
to commit to safe hands the interests with which he has been identified.

^cJ^c^ ^X^^^<^

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1677

Edgai' Philetus Sawyer, the eldest and only surviving son of the
late United States Senator Philetus Sawyer, was born at Crown Point,
Essex county, New York, on the fourth of December, 1842, and was
five years old when the family removed to the territory of Wisconsin.
Thus he is essentially a man of the vigorous west. He was seven
years old when the family home was established at Oshkosh, which
was then a mere lumbering town in a typical frontier community.
Several years elapsed before definite prosperity attended his father's
ventures, and he grew to maturity without advantage greater than
those of the average Wisconsin youth of that pioneer period. His
industrial and economic training was not unlike that which his father
had received, and the same practical ideas of the duties and responsi-
bilities of life were early instilled into and developed by his recep-
tive mind. His early advantages came from the public schools of
Oshkosh, and a course in the Milwaukee Business College. At an early
age he became associated with his father's lumbering opei'ations,
which Avere beginning to assume considerable proportions. His prompt
and efficient discharge of the duties assigned to him in this connec-
tion, soon gained to him the confidence of the firm in which his father
Avas an interested principal, and prior to attaining to his legal major-
ity, he had become an important factor in conducting and manage-
ing a rapidly expanding enterprise.

In 1862 Senator Sawyer purchased his partner's interest in the
mill, which they had established at Oshkosh, and in the spring of 1864,
Edgar P. Sawyer was admitted to partnership in the business, which at
that time entered upon a year of distinctive prosperity. Gradually
the senior member of the firm shifted to the shoulders of his son a
large share of the cares and responsibilities of the business, and the
ability displayed by the latter justified Senator Sawyer, when he
diverted his attention from his private business activities and entered
public life.

From the time Senator Sawyer entered public service, in the
capacity of member of the assembly body of the Wisconsin legislature,
up to the close of his distinguished career as a member of the United
States Senate, during the major part of a quarter of a century, the
business of P. Sawyer & Son reached great magnitude, and became
intimately related to the industrial development and progress of this
section of the state. With its amplification, the burden of responsi-
bility increased, and this rested mainly upon the shoulders of Edgar
P. Sawyer. Under his direction and supervision, new enterprises were
initiated and large investments made. For many years he was the
general manager and executive head of the business established by
his honored father. While Senator Sawyer laid the foundation for
the handsome fortune which has accrued as a result of the operations
of this firm, his son had a large share in all its subsequent develop-

1678 HISTORY OF AVISC0N81N

meuts. Entering full}' into the plans and purposes of his father,
Edgar P. Sawyer displayed the same genius for organization, the
same keen insight into trade conditions, and the same masterful and
comprehensive grasp of commercial problems. Energy, initiative,
resourcefulness and administrative ability of the highest type have
been hardly less prominent traits of his character than of that of his
father, and rugged honesty and integrity of purpose have been dom-
inating attributes of both' father and son.

The enervating effects of wealth are not apparent in this succes-
sion. Vigor of mind and body has been transmitted without impair-
ment, and Edgar P. Sawyer is in the most significant sense a plain,
matter-of-fact, sagacious man of affairs— a veritable captain of in-
dustry and one of the world's worthy and constructive workers.
Aside from his lumbering operations he has become largely inter-
ested in other enterprises, Avhich have been quickened by his indi-
vidual ability. For several years he was vice-president of the First
National Bank of Oshkosh. This bank in February, 1903, was reor-
ganized, under its present title of the Old National Bank of Oshkosh,
and since that time Mr. Sawyer has been its president. The Sawyer
Company is owners of a fine cattle ranch in Irion and Reagan coun-
ties, Texas, comprising about one hundred and sixty thousand acres
of grazing land, and stocked with fully ten thousand head of cattle.
Mr. Sawyer is a stock holder and director in many other corpora-
tions.

A man of broad liberality and generous impulses, Mr. Sawyer has
done much for the improvement and upbiiilding of his home city.
Though unwavering in his allegiance to the Republican party, of
which his. father was one of the most distinguished representatives
in Wisconsin, Mr. Sawyer has never sought or desired participation
in practical politics. In Masonry, he has taken thirty-two degrees
of the Scottish Rite.

In the year 1864 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sawj^er to
Miss Mary Jewell, who Avas born in Columbia county. New York,
July 3, 1842. Her father was the late Hon. Henry C. Jewell, a ster-
ling pioneer and influential citizen of Oshkosh, which city he served
as mayor, besides having represented Winnebago county in the state
legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer have one son and one daughter.
Maria M. is the wife of Charles Curry Chase, general manager of
the Banderob-Case Company, engaged in the manufacture of furni-
ture at Oshkosh. Mr. Sawyer also is a stockholder and treasurer of
this corporation, of which John Banderob is president and Mr. Case
secretary and vice-president and general manager. Philetus Horace
Sawyer, the only son, is secretary and treasurer of P. Sawyer & Son,
Ltd. ; and is also secretary and treasurer of the Oshkosh Gas Light
Company. The home relations of Mr. Sawyer have been ideal, and

HISTORY OF WISCONSI?^ 1679

literature and travel have occupied a large share of his leisure time.
He is a man of broad mentality, of genial and Democratic person-
ality, and of fine civic loyalty and progressiveness. All his successes
have been worthily won, and he is truly one of the representative
citizens and leading business men of the Badger State, in which his
interests have ever been centered, and of whose great advantages and
attractions he is deeply appreciative.

Kathern K. Brainakd. Justly to be accredited with admirable
executive ability and marked circumspection is this well known and pop-
ular citizen and representative business man of Pepin county, where he
is the able incumbent of the position of cashier of the State Bank of
Durand, one of the strong and effectively managed financial institutions
of this part of the state. He has been a resident of the judicial center
of Pepin county since 1901, when he assumed his present official
position, and he has been a potent factor in the upbuilding of the
substantial business of the institution with which he is identified.

Mr. Brainard was born at St. Charles, Winona county, Minnesota,
on the 23d of February, 1870, and is a scion of one of the sterling
pioneer families of that state. His early educational discipline was
acquired in the public schools of Montevideo, Chippewa county, Min-
nesota, and he initiated his business career in the capacity of clerk
for the Northern Pacific Railroad, as a representative of which he
was stationed in North Dakota. He gained familiarity with the
details of i-ailway work and was finally appointed station agent for
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Millard, South
Dakota, two years, then to Mellette, where he continued to serve
in this capacity for seven years, and where he was prominently
identified with the civic and material development and progress of
the town, until he came to Durand and remained with the same rail-
road seven years. Then in 1909 he became cashier of the State Bank
of Durand, and he has been zealous and efficient in the discharge
of the duties of this executive post, in which his record has been
altogether admirable, even as it has been of inestimable value in
furthering the best interests of the institution and making the same
a conservator of community welfare. He is a stockholder of the
bank of which he is cashier, and the other members of the executive
corps are* as here noted: John Brunner, Jr., president; E. Oester-
reicher, vice-president, and George L. Howard, assistant cashier.
Besides the president and vice-president the directorate of the insti-
tution includes H. Goodrich, M. Hurlburt, H. E. Stanton, J. Engel-
dinger, C. A. Ingram, George Howard, and M. Dorwin. The bank
bases its operations upon a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dol-
lars, its surplus fund is six thousand dollars, and, according to its
ofiicial statement at the close of business on the 4th of February,

1680 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

1913, its individual deposits were shown to be $95,815.99, with time
certificates of deposit to the amount of $192,727.12.

In politics Mr. Brainard has been found at all times arrayed as
a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and as a
citizen he is essentially broad-minded, liberal and progressive, though
he has manifested no desire for public office. He is an appreciative
member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity, and has been active
and influential in the various Masonic bodies with which he is affili-
ated, his maximum affiliation being with the Eau Claire Commandery,
Knights Templar, No. 8, at Eau Claire, this state. He is at the present
time (1913) master of Durand Lodge, No. 149, Free & Accepted
Masons; is past high priest of Durand Chapter, No. 61, Royal Arch
Masons; and worthy patron of Truth Chapter, No. 110, Eastern Star,
an office in which he had previously served for three years. He is
also affiliated with the local organization of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows. He is a charter member of the Durand Business
Men's Association and gives earnest co-operation in the furtherance
of the high civic ideals and activities of this progressive organization.

On the 23d of October, 1891, was solemnized the mari-iage of Mr.
Brainard to Miss Mary A. Kohr, and they have four children: G.
Vaughn, Carroll, Docela, and Kathyrn. The eldest of the children
was graduated in the Durand high school as a member of the class
of 1912.

William J. Leader. For more than a quarter of a century William
J. Leader has been connected with the official life of Douglas county.
Wisconsin, and through this long, faithful and capable service is en-
titled to the gratitude and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He has been
conscientious in his discharge of the duties of every trust imposed in
him, and his record as a public official will bear the most searching
sci-utiny. Mr. Leader is an Illinoisan by birth, being a native of Jo
Daviess county, where he was born August 17, 1855, the oldest of six
sons and three daughters born to John Hall and Honora (O'Donoghue)
Leader. Six of these children still survive.

John Hall Leader was born in County Cork, Ireland, and emigrated
to the United States on a sailing vessel, in 1848, settling at Syracuse,
New York, where he was married to Honora O'Donoghue, a native of
County Kerry, Ireland. In 1854 they removed to Galena, Illinois, where
Mr. Leader entered the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad and for
many years served in a clerical capacity and as baggagemaster. He
was an early Democrat in politics, but later transferred his support to
the Republican party. Mr. Leader died at the age of sixty-six years,
while his widow survived him until 1904, and was seventy-four years
old at the time of her demise.

After attending the graded and high schools of Galena, Illinois, Wil-

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1681

liam J. Leader took up the study of telegraphy, and subsequently spent
two years in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad at Galena,
and the succeeding five years at Decatur and Springfield, Illinois, with
the same company. He then entered the service of the Texas Pacific
Railroad, acting as operator at Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, and as
station agent at Pecos, Texas, for about two years, and in 1884 came to
Superior, Wisconsin, to accept the position of cashier of the Chicago,
St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad. In 1886 Mr. Leader resigned
this position when he was appointed assistant county clerk of Douglas
county, and since that time he has been continuously in public service.
In 1887 and 1888 he acted in the capacity of county assessor; became
deputy county treasurer in the latter year and continued as such in 1889
and 1890; was county clerk in 1891 and 1892, and deputy county clerk
from 1893 to 1910, and in the latter year was again elected county clerk,
in which capacity he is at present acting. A service covering twenty-
seven years in positions of public responsibility and trust is indeed an
unusual one and is indicative of the general confidence which Mr. Leader
has inspired in his fellow-citizens. He has interested himself in various
movements for the public welfare, and since 1908 has been a director
of the Superior Public Library. He is a life member of the Wisconsin
Historical Society, and is affiliated also with the Knights of Columbus
and Siberian Lodge No. 403, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
He has always supported Republican principles.

On June 8, 1882, Mr. Leader was married at Dallas, Texas, to Miss
Margaret Keating, who was born at New Diggins, Lafayette county,
Wisconsin, and to this union there have been born three daughters:
Cora, who is a teacher in the public schools of Superior ; Katherine, who
is a student in the State University, at ]\Iadison; and Honora, who is
teaching in the schools of Winston, Minnesota.

Jay Foote Egerton, vice president and cashier of the Mitchell Street
State Bank of Milwaukee, is a descendant of families which from the
days of the American war for independence have furnished men of
prominence in every walk of life. Still further back, sevei'al of his
progenitors had been distinguished in the civil and political annals of
Great Britain, were faithful supporters of the Crown and defenders
of the faith, and were honored by their sovereign with emoluments
and honors as rewards for upright citizenship and loyalty. The Eger-
ton branch of the family furnished a prime minister of England as
far back as the year 900 and a bishop of England in 1500. Mr. Eger-
ton 's great-great-grandfather Arnold came to America as an officer
in the army of General Braddock, and fought in the French and Indian
Wars in 1756 ; his great-great-grandfather Asa Egerton, was one of the
founders of Randolph, Vermont, obtained the charter for the town and
named it, and was its first militia captain, a position of great dignity

1682 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

and responsibility. Libbius Egerton, tbe grand-nncle of his father, was
at one time lieutenant-governor of Vermont, and Judge Converse, his
father's uncle, served as governor of that state. Mr. Egerton 's maternal
grandfather, Ezra Albert Foote, was one of the territorial legislators
from Rock countj^ Wisconsin, and a pioneer of FootevlUe, which was
named in his honor, and a sketch of his career will be found in another
part of this work.

Jay Foote Egerton was born at Footeville, Rock county, Wisconsin,
April 1, 1879, a son of Henry Arnold and Louisa (Battelle) Foote.
His father was born at Northfield, Vermont, January 4, 1830, and, los-
ing his father wnen he was two years of age, spent his boyhood and
youth at Woodstock, Vermont, at the homes of his grandfather, Henry
Arnold, and his grand-uncle, Judge Converse, the latter governor of
Vermont. At the age of twenty-six years he migrated west to Wis-
consin, and two years later entered the employ of the Chicago & North-
western Railroad, subsequently having charge of the stations at Foote-
ville and Oregon, Wisconsin, and Algona, Iowa. From the latter place
he returned to Footeville, and here the remainder of his life was passed
in breeding fine Jersey and Berkshire cattle on Egerton Farm. His
death occurred at Footeville, September 14, 1908. In politics Mr. Eger-
ton was a Republican, and, although it was never characteristic to covet
public office, he had pronounced convictions regarding men and ideas.
He served a number of years as a member of the Board of County Com-
missioners. On December 23, 1860, Mr. Egerton was married at Janes-
ville, to Miss Louisa Battelle Foote, Avho was born at Goshen, Con-
necticut, September 28, 1839, daughter of Ezra Albert and Clarissa
(Beach) Foote. She still survives her. husband and resides on the old
homestead at Footeville. The children born to ]Mr. and Mrs. Egerton
were: Clara, born at Algona, Iowa, who is now Mrs. John Lugg and
resides with her mother on the homestead; Jay Foote, of this review;
and Arnold Gardner, the eldest, who died April 21, 1884. at the age of
nineteen years.

Jay Foote Egerton received his early education in the district schools
of Center township. Rock county, this being supplemented by one year
of attendance at Beloit Academy. Succeeding this he passed one sum-
mer traveling in Europe, and on his return was stricken with illness.
It was seven years before his health returned, and in 1903 he became
connected with the First National Bank of Milwaukee, as a clerk, con-
tinuing with this institution until 1907, when he became one of the
organizers of the Mitchell Street State Bank, of Milwaukee, as its
cashier. In 1910 he assumed the duties of vice-president, and also was
made a member of the board of directors, and at this time acts in all
three capacities. This financial institution, known as one of the most
solid and substantial State banks in Milwaukee, is capitalized at $50,000,
and is located at the corner of Mitchell street and Second avenue. Its

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1683

other officers are Stephen H. EUer, president; Syl. J. Wabiszewski, vice-
president ; and Jacob T. Thomas, assistant cashier. Its members are all
men of business prominence, who have won the confidence of the public
through their connection with large ventures, no less than through their
capable handling of the institution's affairs. As cashier, ]\Ir. Egerton
has been instrumental in popularizing the institution's coffers, and
among his associates and bankers generally is known as a thoroughly
capable financier. In addition to tlie duties of his official positions, Mr.
Egerton manages the affairs of the Egerton Estate, owner of the Eger-
ton Farm at Footeville, a tract of 160 acres, on which he has been very
successful in raising fine cattle, this being one of the fine stock farms of
this part of Wisconsin.

In politics, Mr. Egerton is a Republican in national affairs, but in
local matters gives his support to the men and policies which he deems
will best serve the interests of the people. He is a popular member of
the Milwaukee Athletic and City Clubs. ]\Ir. Egerton is unmarried and
keeps bachelor's hall on Layton boulevard.

Ezra Albert Foote. The late Ezra Albert Foote, who was one of
the first territorial legislators of Wisconsin, and who was subsequently
elected to serve in both houses of the State Assembly as well as in vari-
ous other positions of public trust and responsibility, was a member of
a family that became identified with America at a very early period in
its history, Nathaniel Foote, the American ancestor, having come to
Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1630, subsequently settling in Watertown,
and later moving to Windsor, Connecticut. His descendants still main-
tain a national association, and among them have been Commodore
Foote, who commanded a river fleet during the Civil war, Henrj' Ward
Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Ezra Albert Foote was born February 6, 1809, at Goshen, Connecti-
cut, a son of Joseph and Abigail (Baldwin) Foote. He was married at
Goshen, June 4, 1829, to Clarissa Beach, who was born December 5.
1807, daughter of Julius and Eunice Beach, of that place. In 1845
Mr. and Mrs. Foote removed to Rock county. Wisconsin, settling at
the point where the village now stands which bears his name. In the
spring of 1846, Mr. Foote entered public life when he was elected
chairman of the town Board of Supervisors, and from that time until
1869 he held various offices within the gift of his fellow-townsmen.
In 1854 he embarked in the produce business, and so successful was
he in this venture that he became the owner of seven warehouses. Mr.
Foote was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 1857, and in 1861
was made a member of the Senate, where he served as chairman of
the finance committee in 1861 and 1862. In the latter year he was
appointed a trustee and member of the executive committee of the
State Hospital for the Insane, and held the former position until

1684 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

1869. In 1867 he was again sent to the State Assembly, and was
there chairman of the railroad committee.

In August, 1869, Mr. Foote went to La Cygue, Kansas, where he
spent seven years, and during this time was the first mayor of the
city, and police judge for three years. Returning to Footeville in
the spring of 1876, in 1877 he was elected chairman of the Board
of Supervisors, a position which he held for a number of years. He
was one of the main factors in securing the building of Evansville
Seminary, and for many years was president of its Board of Trustees,
was a director of the Beloit & IMadison Railroad, and a member of the
directing board of the Central Bank of Wisconsin. In his death,
which occurred December 21, 1885, his community lost a citizen who
had ever been loyal to its best interests, and who, more than any
other individual, had forwarded its growth and development. His
wife passed away June 5, 1886.

Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Foote: Ruth Roxana,
born April 30, 1831, who died at Footeville, Wisconsin, December 7,
1863; Joseph Ives, born December 17, 1834, who died in San Diego,
California, July 18, 1899; and Louisa Battelle, born September 28,
1839, the widow of H. A. Egerton, now living on Egerton farm, at
Footeville.

Joseph Ives Foote received a liberal education, attending first the
public schools and subsequently graduating with honors from Law-
rence University, following which he took a civil engineering course
and the course required for teachers in the Wisconsin State Normal
school. He rose to a high position in his chosen vocation of educator,
being at one time regent of the State Normal school and superintend-
ent of schools of Rock county, Wisconsin, was called to the presidency
of the Spanish-American College in Chili, was professor of elocution
in Avoca Ladies Seminary, professor of languages and civil engineer-
ing in Austin (Texas) College, and president of the literary and agri-
cultural departments of Polytechnic College of Houston, Texas. In
1879 Mr. Foote was admitted to the bar of Kansas City, with license
to practice law in the courts of the State of Missouri. He was chap-
lain of the Thirteenth Wisconsin Volunteers and Veteran Volunteer
Infantry, with which he served until the close of the Civil war. He
had entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1858,
and served as a pastor therein during five years.

In 1886, on account of ill health, Mr. Foote went to California,
where he was appointed pastor of a church at Coronado Beach, where
he continued to labor until his death, which occurred at San Diego,
July 18, 1899. He left a widow, who had been Miss Emma A. Love-
joy. Their three little daughters died in infancy.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1685

Albert Kalmbach. From the old days of the " float-and-stone
system" and the open sail boat to the modern methods and appliances
of the present day, the career of Albert Kalmbach has been con-
temporaneous with the fishing industry of Wisconsin. In this voca-
tion he spent his early youth, gradually he learned its lessons, event-
ually he established a business of his own, and today this veteran of
the calling, although now sixty-three years of age, continues to
direct a business that is extensive in volume and important as a
factor in the business life of Sturgeon Bay. Mr. Kalmbach was born
January 12, 1851, at Hollidaysburg, the county seat of Blair county,
Pennsylvania, not far from the famous "Horseshoe Bend" of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, known all over the country. His parents,
Godfrey and Christina (Sager) Kalmbach, were born in Germany
and were there married, for sometime thereafter conducting a hotel.
Feeling that they could better their condition in the United States,
they embarked for this country in a sailing vessel, and after a hazard-
ous journey covering many weeks arrived in the land of promise. Mr.
Kalmbach, being expei'ieneed as a hotel-keeper, chose that calling and
established himself in business at Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, but
after five years moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he spent one year.
At the end of that period, at the solicitation of old J. W. Craw, who
owned the harbor at Washington Island, Wisconsin, he came to this
place and took charge of a boarding house for Mr. Craw. At that
time this was one of the important harbors of the Great Lakes, and
the Island depended chiefly upon its fisher and sailormen, and great
quantities of salted fish were shipped from this point all over the
surrounding territory. After conducting the boarding house for four
years the Kalmbachs moved to the southern side of the Island, and
there cleared a farm, upon which both parents spent the remainder of
their lives, the father dying at the age of eighty-seven years, and the
mother four years later. They were the parents of twelve children,
of whom all but five died young, these five being : Michael F., a resident
of Duluth, Minnesota; Mary, deceased, who was the wife of Jacob
Richter, also deceased; Minnie, deceased, who was the wife of H. W.
Davis, also deceased, who was for many years manager of the Blue
Line Railroad at Cleveland, Ohio; Albert, of this review; and Susan,
deceased, who was the wife of Andrew Olsen.

Albert Kalmbach was six years of age when the family came
to Washington Island, and he can still remember the trip as made in
the old "side-wheeler" City of Cleveland. Here he grew to man-
hood, assisting first in the boarding house and later on the farm, and
in the, meantime acquiring his education by attendance at the dis-
trict schools, this latter being subsequently supplemented, when he
was eighteen years of age, by one winter at the Green Bay High
School. His career as a fisherman was started when he was sixteen

Vol. VI— 2

1686 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

years of age, at which time, with an open sail boat and the ohl ' " float-
and-stone" system, then the approved method of net fishing, he began
his operations. From that time on he has continued in his chosen
calling, and his career has been crowded with many hardships and
numerous exciting experiences, and has finally been crowned with
success. He has kept abreast of the times, adopting the different
methods as they have presented themselves, and discarding the old
ways for the modern aluminum cork, steam lifters, gasoline lifters,
steam tugs and gasoline boats. Although he began his career in the
old school, he has been progressive and has always been ready to
test new devices and give a trial to inventions. At the outset of his
fishing experience he worked ten years for his brother, Michael F.
Kalmbach, and then continued for different firms until 1893, when
he embarked in business on his own account. He resided for many
years in the old Washington Island home, which remained in the
family name for forty-five years, but in the fall of 1913 disposed of
it and has lived in Sturgeon Bay since 1893. Here he has gradually
developed an excellent business. He not alone has his own boats,
but buys most of the fish brought to this point, does both a wholesale
and a retail business, and employs fourteen men, shipping annually
on an average of 800,000 pounds of fish to various points. His mod-
ern place of business is thoroughly equipped and is located on the
bay, near the Sturgeon Bay side of the bridge. Mr. Kalmbach is an
interesting conversationalist and has an inexhaustible fund of remin-
iscences of the early days of fishing and sailing, his recollections and
anecdotes all being drawn from life. Few men have been allowed
to witness such wonderful changes and developments and to share
in them and assist in bringing them about. He is one of the connect-
ing links between the past and present of his time-honored vocation,
and it is doubtful if there is a better known figure on this section of
the coast.

In 1878 Mr. Kalmbach was united in marriage with Miss Dora C.
Higgins, and to this union there have been born four children : Jessie,
who married Wilfred Chase and resides at Madison, Wisconsin ; Mor-
ris, who married May Carpenter and resides at Plymouth, this state;
Mabel, who is now Mrs. William J. Spencer, of Sagamore, Michigan;
and Ethel, a student in the University of Wisconsin, at ^Madison. All
of the chldren have been given excellent educational advantages. Mr.
Kalmbach is a charter member of the Royal Arcanum and E. F. U.,
of Sturgeon Bay. He and his wife are members of the Congrega-
tional church, and their pleasant home is located on Church street.

Henry Clinton Case. During thirty years of residence and active
business connections with the city of Racine, Mr. Case has been identi-
fied prominently with the business and civic activities of this vicinity.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1687

For a number of years his offices in Racine have been the center of
a large real estate and insurance business, but in addition, he had also
been connected with the manufacture of flour in this county, and his
name has been associated with other business enterprises and civic
positions which are a credit to his energy and public spirit.

Henry Clinton Case was born in Williamstown, New York, August
7, 1858. His parents were De Wayne and Eliza (Greenhow) Case,
the father a native of Williamstown, and the mother of Kendall,
England. The grandfather of Mr. Case was Jonathan Case, a farmer
in New York State. The maiden name of his wife was Amy Lot,
and they were the parents of a large family. Jonathan Case died
when ninety years of age, and his wife also passed away in advanced
years. The father of the Racine business man, DeWayne Case, spent
practically all his life as a farmer. Up to 1884, his residence was in
Williamstown, New York, but in that year he located at Racine, and con-
tinued a citizen of this Wisconsin metropolis. He and the late Jerome
I. Case were cousins. His residence during the years of his retirement
was just south of the city limits of Racine on the lake shore. His
church was Universalist, while his wife was a Presbyterian. The
four children born to DeWayne Case and wife were : Frank D.,
of the firm of Case Brothers Flouring Mill, at Racine Junction;
Henry Clinton; George N., a bookkeeper in the Manufacturers Bank,
and Lillie E., wife of J. P. Davies, of Racine.

Henry C. Case's mother, whose maiden name was Eliza Greenhow,
was a daughter of John Greenhow, the latter a native of England,
immigrating to America about 1884, locating in New York State.
He was a minister of the Gospel, and later editor of the Canastota
Herald, and subsequently of the Hornellsville Tribune. With the
latter paper he continued as editor until the time of his death, at
which date he was succeeded by his son, William Henry, who has
since conducted the paper. John Greenhow, who lived to be upwards
of eighty years of age, married first Jane Bailey, of Kendall, England.
There were three daughters by this marriage. The second wife of ]Mr.
Greenhow was Mary Frodsham and by their union Avas born one son
and two daughters.

Reared at Williamstown, New York, Henry Clinton Case attended
the piiblie schools, and at the age of eleven became self-supporting.
He began practical life as an apprentice at the printer's trade, which
occupation he followed for three years. For nine years, subsequent to
that, he was a clerk in a general store, and with this varied, rather de-
tailed experience as preparation, he came west in 1883, locating in Racine,
where he became connected with the J. I. Case Threshing ^lachine
Company. The service of this important industrial enterprise of
Racine continued for seventeen years. At the end of that time, in
1900, he formed a partnership with William Henry Miller in the real

1688 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

estate business, a partnership which continued until March 18, 1905,
at which date he opened offices of his own in the Old Times building,
on the northwest coi-ner of Monument Square and Fifth Street. The
business conducted by Mr. Case- the first six months aggregated sixty
transactions, a record which probably has been unexcelled by any
individual real estate man in this city. Lines of insurance and a
loan department have since been added to his business enterprise,
and he has conducted a large and important business in these lines.
With his brother, Frank D., he is associated in the manufacture of
flour at Racine Junction, their enterprise there being known as the
Junction Flouring Mills. They have specialized in grain and rye
feed, and have done a large amount of custom grinding.

In recent years Mr. Case gained some local note as owner and pro-
prietor of the well known "Ever Green Hall," a summer resort on the
south side of Racine, which was conducted on the temperance plan.
The hall had courts and balconies around the first and second stories,
contained one of the best dancing floors in the state and was the center,
during the summer months, of numerous picnic and dancing parties
from IMilwaukee, Kenosha, Racine and other popular centers hereabout.
The establishment acquired its particular fame because of the absence
of alcoholic drinks, none of which were sold in the building or on the
grounds, and the success of the enterprise is convincing evidence that
such an institution can be conducted on a moral plan, and without resoi-t
to the usual beverages which are found in such places. This resort was
situated on a ten acre tract of land, about a quarter of a mile south of
Racine College, on the Lake Shore road, which is known as Evergreen
Drive, and reached by the Milwaukee, Racine & Kenosha electric cars.
This property has since been sold to the J. I. Case Threshing Machine
Company.

In politics Mr. Case is a Republican, but has manifested special
interest and citizenship in support of educational institutions and
movements. Since 1902, he served as district clerk of school district
No. 13. He has also served as secretary of the Business Men's Associa-
tion. His beautiful home with its surrounding of ten acres of ground,
is located on the Lake Shore, adjoining Racine College, and is one of
the most attractive estates in the vicinity of Racine, and his domestic
life there has been that of a typical American business man, a center
of kindly and cultured activities. Mr. Case was married in 1905 to IMiss
Henrietta M. Zierke, of Racine, and the children are Clinton D. ; Hen-
rietta A., and Ethel A.

GusTAV BuciiHEiT. A native son of Watertown, Jetferson county,
and a scion of one of the best known and most sturdy pioneer families
of this thriving and attractive city, Mr. Buehheit has here attained to
distinctive precedence as one of the representative members of the l>ar

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN 1689

and forceful trial lawyers of this section of the state, and as a citizen
of progressiveness and substantial influence. In his character and
achievement he has well upheld the honors of the name which he bears
and he is well entitled to specific recognition in this history of his native
commonwealth.

Mr. Buchheit was born in Watertown on the 17th of July, 1874,
and was the fourth in order of birth in a family of five sons and five
daughters, all of whom are living. He is a son of William and Helena
(Weis) Buchheit, the former of whom was born in the kingdom of
Bavaria, Germany, and the latter in Prussia and the marriage of whom
was solemnized in Watertown, Wisconsin. William Buchheit was reared
and educated in his native land, whence he immigrated to the United
States in 1849. After remaining for a brief interval in the state of
Massachusetts he came to the west and numbered himself among the
pioneers of Wisconsin, a state which shall ever be greatly indebted to
the German element of citizenship that has proved most potent in fur-
thering its civic and industrial development and upbuilding. For a
time after his arrival in IMassachusetts ]\Ir. Buchheit worked in woolen
mills and established his permanent home at Watertown in 1850. Here
he eventually built up an extensive enterprise as a dealer in grain, flour
and feed a